Category Archives: 5-6

The World Around Us: A review of Maptacular!

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Maptacular!
Laura Baker
Illustrated by Jorge De La Paz
Lonely Planet Kids
November 10, 2026
Age 8-12

Most maps divide the world by country borders, but what if it were split by favorite ice cream flavors, tallest trees, or global distribution of video gamers? Prolific children’s nonfiction author, Laura Baker, along with travel guide powerhouse Lonely Planet, offers middle grade readers this fascinating, infographic-like twist on cartography. Maptacular! features 70+ maps with chapters focused on countries, people, nature, transportation, history, and technology, then subdivided further into 2-page spreads exploring a single topic or question, such as “Do You Need a (School) Uniform?” or “Marco Polo’s Voyage.” The amount of easily digestible text varies from spread to spread, but most include a helpful key for understanding the map and fun facts associated with the topic, like that Australia is home to 28 million people and 40 million kangaroos (p24). Without a strong narrative structure, the title allows for consuming intriguing details at a reader’s own pace, either moving slowly through the ideas and images, or dipping in and out like a reference text, while wildly varied topics nurture curiosity about both the earth and the global community. Baker introduces deeper topics for consideration in age-appropriate ways, like that maps are organized the way they are (with Europe in the center) because they were developed by European explorers, gently encouraging readers to look at other things from a new perspective. De La Paz uses graphic design-inspired digital images in a candy-colored palette to clearly express the facts of each topic. Clean image overlays help simplify complex ideas, like the way Mercator Projection maps stretch out the land at the top/bottom of the globe. The inclusion of several wayfinding aids, an about section (explaining the parts of each spread), a world map, glossary, and resource list support both new nonfiction readers and those looking to dig deeper into a topic.

A vivid, info-packed guide for geography buffs and fun fact collectors alike.

Butler Bookshelf

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Here at the Butler Center, our nonfiction collection features books about people who changed the world in their own ways. The women featured in these nonfiction titles made their mark whether it’s through their words, their artwork, or their dancing. This week’s feature pick is Remember Her Name!: Debbie Allen’s Rise to Fame written by Tami Charles and illustrated by Meredith Lucius. This picture book highlights the early life of world-renowned dancer, choreographer, and actress Debbie Allen. Charles lyrically tells the story of how Allen found acceptance taking dance classes in Mexico City and bringing her talent back to her old home in Houston, TX, where black girls weren’t allowed in prestigious dance schools because of racism and Jim Crow laws.

Remember Her Name!: Debbie Allen’s Rise to Fame
Tami Charles
Illustrated by: Meredith Lucius
Charlesbridge
Available now!

Beatrix and Her Friends: Celebrating the Life of Beatrix Potter
Anne Lambelet
Peachtree Publishing Co/Margaret Quinlin Books
Available now!

Footeprint: Eunice Newton Foote at the Dawn of Climate Science and Women’s Rights
Lindsay H Metcalf
Charlesbridge/Charlesbridge Teen
Available now!

Mary Oliver, Holding on to Wonder
Erin Frankel
Illustrated by Jasu Hu
Astra Books for Young Readers/Calkins Creek
Available now!

Marie’s Magic Eggs: How Marie Procai Kept the Ukrainian Art of Pysanky Alive
Sandra Neil Wallace
Illustrated by Evan Turk
Astra Books for Young Readers/Calkins Creek
Available now!

Butler Bookshelf

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Friendships can be hard to navigate during middle school. These middle-grade novels from our Butler Center Children’s Fiction collection represent challenges students face and how they face them. This week’s feature pick is Roohi and Nate are Not on the Same Page by Supriya Kelkar and Jarret Lerner. Studious Roohi and rebellious Nate couldn’t be any more different, and they don’t consider themselves friends when they join their school Lunch Bunch. As they spend more time together, and when they learn the school librarian’s job is on the line due to budget cuts, Roohi and Nate put their differences aside and work together to save what they hold dear.

Roohi and Nate are Not on the Same Page
Supriya Kelkar and Jarret Lerner
ABRAMS/Amulet Books
Available now!

Camp Big Top
Alexandra Diaz
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Beach Lane Books
Available now!

The Unlikely Aventuras of Ramón and El Cucuy Book 2: Don’t Eat the Birthday Boy!
Donna Barbara Higuera
Illustrated by Juliana Perdomo
ABRAMS/Amulet Books
Available now!

When Tomorrow Burns
Tae Keller
Random House Children’s Books/Random House Books for Young Readers
Available now!

The Catastrophic Friendship Fails of Lottie Brooks
Kate Kirby
Random House Children’s Books/Random House Books for Young Readers
Available now!

Version 2.0: A review of The Continuation of Summer Dillon

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The Continuation of Summer Dillon
Sarah Everett
HarperCollins Children’s
September 15, 2026
Age 8-12

What would you think of a replica android replacing your sibling? What if you were the replica? That’s how Summer 2.0 came to join the grieving Dillon family after their 11-year-old daughter’s passing. With downloads of Summer’s memories and mannerisms, she is not meant to replace, but to continue Summer’s life. That is, until a glitch in her code has Summer 2.0 developing her own likes (the color turquoise), dislikes (oatmeal-yuck), fears (being recycled), and a “forever plan” with dreams for her future—gaining her family’s love, becoming the perfect Summer, growing old, and visiting the Grand Canyon.

This middle grade, science fiction novel is an exploration of what makes us “us,” what makes us human. Sarah Everett’s characters embody all the joys and heartbreaks of life (for both humans and androids), with themes of grief, love, friendship, and individuality. She handles tough subjects delicately and with an 11-year-old’s worry about their place in the worlds of school and family. Fast prose, brief paragraphs, and journal-like footnotes addressed to Summer 1.0 and future Summers embody the voice of a vibrant, yet unsure young girl, with just a touch of AI omniscience. This juxtaposition poses questions about the ethics of artificial intelligence in an age-appropriate way and mirrors the changes tweens experience as they grow from childhood wants to the more complex understanding that comes with growing up. A bittersweet coming of age story to remind readers that we are all unique, we all have value, and we are all irreplaceable.

It’s Better to Give: A Review of Just One Gift

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Just One Gift
Linda Sue Park
Illustrated by Robert Sae-Heng
HarperCollins/Clarion Books
April 7, 2026
Age: 8-12

The language arts assignment is deceptively simple: If you could give a gift, what would it be? The recipient must fall into the assigned category (family, friend, or ?), and the gift must not be something they have ever asked for. When Ms. Chang’s middle school ELA class begins to think through their assignment, they discover that the thought put into a gift can reveal as much about the giver as the receiver. And that their gifts highlight emotions, priorities, and community in ways that may never have been imagined.

Inspired by the Sijo poetry style of Korea, composed of three lines and thirteen to seventeen syllables, each response is its own short story of connection and meaning. In this companion to The One Thing You’d Save, Park’s choice to arrange the title into an assignment explanation, followed by individual student responses, provides natural pauses between chapters to digest the consideration that went into each gift. It also helps to delineate between student voices and highlight the self-consciousness, enthusiasm, and growing thoughtfulness of the middle school years. The simple pencil sketches from the book cover and select interior pages (available online) showcase Sae-Heng’s clear and imaginative style, bringing the students’ vision to the page like one might doodle in their assignment notebook.

A thoughtful exploration of the meaning, importance, and joys of gift giving for middle schoolers beginning to understand the ways their actions—big and small—can affect the world around them.

*Final art not included in the ARC.

Below the Surface: A Review of Dive 

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Dive 
Written by John David Anderson 
Published by Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins Publishers 
Ages 9-13 
Available August 19, 2025 

Thirteen-year-old Kass feels frustrated with her life. She and her best friend are drifting apart, and her parents’ marriage is strained by money problems. Even Kass’s safe space in the pool as a competitive diver causes her stress as she struggles to master a dive that her teammate, Amber, could perform in her sleep. Disheartened, Kass’s life changes when she finds Miles, a seventeen-year-old high school dropout, dumpster diving near her bus stop. Intrigued, Kass starts taking “lessons” from him on how to scavenge, looking for the value in discarded objects. Along the way, Kass learns the importance of looking past her assumptions to find the deeper story. 

John David Anderson delivers a heartwarming story about looking past appearances to find deeper connections with the people and places around you. Through Kass’s character arc, Anderson explores what it means to test boundaries and make mistakes as a way toward self-discovery. Miles and Amber further propel Kass’s development as they teach her that her assumptions of others aren’t always true. Anderson utilizes cheeky teenage humor to bring levity to the emotional, serious situations that Kass finds herself in, like the effects of her parents’ struggling marriage. The novel is fast-paced, covering only a couple of weeks of Kass’s life, but its impression is long-lasting. Both moving and thought-provoking, Dive by John David Anderson is a mirror for many tweens and young teens trying to figure out where they land in the world. 

Portrait of a Portraitist: A Review of Daring: The Life and Art of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun

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Daring: The Life and Art of Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun 
Written by Jordana Pomeroy 
Published by Getty Publications 
Ages 12-14 
Available July 29, 2025 

Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun was destined to become an artist. Born in France on April 16, 1755, her father saw her artistic potential and encouraged her to create art. Before she turned 20, she gained admittance to a prestigious union of painters called the Academy of Saint-Luc, building her reputation as a talented portraitist. She was forced to flee France during the revolution because of her loyalty to the monarchy. Elisabeth traveled through Europe with her daughter and her daughter’s governess, supporting them with her portraits of prominent figures, like Catherine the Great. After 12 years, Elisabeth was able to safely return to France, though she continued to love travelling throughout Europe and painting portraits. Elisabeth died at the age of 86, leaving behind a legacy as a trailblazing woman in Europe’s aristocratic art world. 

Pomeroy’s extensive knowledge of art and history, gained from her years of experience as a curator of many art museums, shines through in this biography. Pomeroy creates a detailed portrait of the artist and her work by drawing heavily on Elisabeth’s own memoir. She includes personal details about Elisabeth and her relationships while carefully reminding readers that Elisabeth’s perspective is just one side of the story. Pomeroy also masterfully incorporates other important historical people, events, and practices, such as information on wet nursing. This helps develop Elisabeth’s world and allows readers to better understand the society that she lived in. Images of Elisabeth’s famous paintings are included, as well as other work from other artists, showing readers both Elisabeth’s beautiful work and the work of her contemporaries and influences. Pomeroy includes notes, an index, and selected sources for further reading, as well as a brief “cast of characters” for quick reference at the beginning of the book. Overflowing with fascinating art history, this inspirational biography is great for highlighting the impact of women in the arts.  

Dare To Follow Your Joy: A Review of The Queen Bees of Tybee County 

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The Queen Bees of Tybee County 
Written by Kyle Casey Chu 
Published by Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins Publishers 
Ages 8-13 
Available April 15, 2025 

Talented middle school point guard Derrick Chan has the perfect summer plan: go to basketball camp and practice every day so he and his best friend, JJ, can make the varsity team next year. His plan is upended when his dad can’t afford the tuition, so instead, Derrick is sent to his grandma Claudia’s in boring Heritage, GA. There, Derrick befriends roller skater Ro and queer photographer Giles. When he has an opportunity to help out with the town pageant, Derrick volunteers out of curiosity and is soon faced with an opportunity to be daring and authentically express himself to the world.  

The Queen Bees of Tybee County is an emotional and heartwarming story of one middle school boy’s journey to self-discovery. Every reader will be able to understand Derrick’s confusion and anxiety, and they’ll find comfort in the safe space that his loved ones give him to be himself. Simultaneously, Chu expertly makes Derrick’s experience specific to his queer Chinese American identity. He demonstrates the diversity of expression in the LGBTQ+ community by showing the different ways Derrick and Giles express their queerness, as well as the ways that racism has affected Derrick’s family members chasing their own dreams. All told from Derrick’s perspective, his sweet and genuine personality makes the story compelling. Community is the heart of this novel, and Chu creates a comfortable safe space in Giles, Ro, and Claudia for Derrick to explore his feelings before feeling safe to come out to JJ and his dad. Although the resolution is fairytale-esque, Chu doesn’t shy away from the reality of being queer and Chinese American by showing resistance from some townspeople when Derrick competes in the pageant. This touching story of self-love and acceptance is sure to inspire upper-elementary and middle schoolers everywhere to be proud of who they are. 

What Makes Me Special?: A Review of I’m a Dumbo Octopus!: A Graphic Guide to Cephalopods 

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I’m a Dumbo Octopus!: A Graphic Guide to Cephalopods 
Written and illustrated by Anne Lambelet 
Published by Lerner Publishing Group/Graphic Universe 
Ages 8-12 
Available March 4, 2025 

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to have nine brains or be able to shoot ink to escape dire situations? In this graphic guide, Grimpy, short for Grimpoteuthis, the scientific name for dumbo octopuses, teaches readers about his cephalopod friends and shows all the things that make them different. He introduces individual species within the cephalopod class, such as cuttlefish and coconut octopuses, showing off their fascinating characteristics and abilities, like using color to communicate and making tools out of the environment. Meanwhile, Grimpy becomes increasingly disheartened when he can’t figure out what makes dumbo octopuses special. In the end, his friends come together to share cool facts about dumbo octopuses that make them unique. Grimpy realizes that he is just as unique as his other cephalopod friends.  

By creating an amusing “tour guide” with Grimpy the dumbo octopus, Anne Lambelet successfully creates a fun and personable way to learn about cephalopods in this graphic nonfiction book. Jam-packed with interesting facts, readers will gain a thorough understanding of this class of animals without feeling overwhelmed with information. Lambelet also adds a touching storyline of celebrating each other’s differences through Grimpy and the other cephalopods sharing their unique skills. At the end, Lambelet includes a glossary with illustrations reviewing each important term introduced in the book, as well as a photograph of a dumbo octopus. Although Lambelet doesn’t have a background in marine biology or ocean science, she includes a selected bibliography of her research and a reading list for readers who want to learn more about cephalopods. Lambelet’s cartoon-style illustrations balance her informative text by bringing more humorous personality to the facts she shares. However, the red, pink, and blue color palette limits her depiction of some of the more colorful capabilities of cephalopods, like camouflage and communication. A charming adventure through the fascinating animal class of cephalopods, I’m a Dumbo Octopus! is an entertaining addition to ocean-themed lessons or programs.  

Butler Bookshelf

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This week’s Butler Bookshelf is all about new fiction titles in our collection! These titles feature animal adventures, a school for time travelers, and dragons in London for readers of all ages. The featured title this week is Time Out! (Addy McBean) by Margery Cuyler and illustrated by Stacy Curtis. In this chapter book for beginning readers, math-loving Addy McBean learns how to tell time on analog clocks and how to set an alarm. Along the way, she and her best friend, Star, become convinced that their teacher, Mr. Vertex, is getting married. Working tirelessly to look for clues, they accidentally spread the rumor to their class. In addition to learning the fun of telling time, Addy learns the importance of using facts to make a decision instead of assumptions. Curtis uses quirky digital illustrations to accompany Addy’s adventures, and Cuyler includes a character glossary and a word list to help young readers remember characters and learn new terms.

Check out more fiction below!

The Doomsday Vault (Everwhen School of Time Travel (and Other Odd Sciences) 1)
Written by Thomas Wheeler
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Available now

A Language of Dragons
Written by S.F. Williamson
Published by Harper
Available now

Little Head, Little Nose
Written by Yuli Yav
Illustrated by Antonia Woodward
Published by LITTLE SIMON
Available now

Time Out! (Addy McBean)
Written by Margery Cuyler
Illustrated by Stacy Curtis
Published by Aladdin Quix
Available now

A Wolf Called Fire
Written by Rosanne Parry
Published by Greenwillow Books
Available now