Tag Archives: Butler Bookshelf

Butler Bookshelf

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Graphic novels are enjoyable reads for any age. The characters showcase emotion, fostering a reader’s empathy, and the format is a fantastic pathway for complex storytelling. This week we’re featuring some graphic novels from our Teen Fiction collection! This week’s feature pick is Someday Perfect written and illustrated by Kat Schneider. This graphic novel centers on teen girl Meg facing a crisis of faith. At a Christian sleepaway camp, Meg is at a crossroads between her pastor father’s expectations and her friends testing the limits of the camps’ rules. Meg doesn’t seem to want to follow her friends’ lead until she meets Danny, a gentle and charming teen boy who only seeks out her attention (and affection). Can Meg reconcile her role in her church and family with her budding romantic feelings for Danny?

Check out this and other YA graphic novel titles here:

Someday Perfect
Kat Schneider
Random House Children’s Books/RH Graphic
Available now!

Lovely Recipe
Myra Rose Nino
Random House Children’s Books/RH Graphic
Available now!

School Bus Graveyard Book 1
Red
Random House Children’s Books/Ink Pop
Available now!

Our Aimless Nights Vol 1
Koumori
Random House Children’s Books/Ink Pop
Available Now!

To Dance the Moon and Stars
Barbara Perez Marquez
Tasia S.M.
Random House Children’s Books/Joy Revolution
Available now!

Butler Bookshelf

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The first day of school is just around the corner, but the adventurous summer fun never ends here at the Butler Center. This week we’re featuring middle-grade adventure novels from our Children’s Fiction collection! Our feature pick of the week is Wilderness Hacks by Joslin Brorsen. Twelve-year-old Sadie Hahn didn’t picture herself on a raft with world famous YouTube star Radley “Rad” Shaw after winning a contest, but she’ll do anything to cheer her younger brother and Rad Shaw superfan, Silas, who was too young to compete. Rad, on the other hand, has millions of online followers but no real-life friends, and to make matters worse, he doesn’t give Sadie a good first impression. Things quickly devolve into disaster when their scripted rafting adventure goes off script, leaving both tweens to need to put aside their differences to survive in the wild.

Check out this and other adventurous titles here!

Wilderness Hacks
Joslin Brorsen
Alfred A. Knopf/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

The Misfits: A Sea Monster Conundrum (The Misfits Book: 3)
Lisa Yee
Illustrated by Dan Santat
Random House Books for Young Readers/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

Anna-Jane and the Endless Summer
Paige Classey
Random House Books for Young Readers/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

RV There Yet?
Suzanne Nelson
Alfred A. Knopf/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

Alex Wise Vs. The Gods of the Apocalypse (Alex Wise Book: 3)
Terry J. Benton-Walker
Labyrinth Road/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

Butler Bookshelf

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There’s nothing quite like the horror genre. Horrific action in mystery stories can send chills down a reader’s spine, and some readers crave that thrilling sensation that leaves them at the edge of their seats, dreading and anticipating what will come next. This week’s Butler Bookshelf is focused on thrillers in our Teen Fiction collection! Our feature pick is What Lies Beneath the Flowers by Natasha Díaz. Pippa and Bidi are on a mission to find the popular, wealthy, and missing Estella Aubergine, whose reward money could help the two friends achieve their dreams. They infiltrate Estella’s school, the prestigious Beaumont Academy, where the students and teachers have dark secrets of their own. As their investigation leads to more questions than answers, Pippa and Bidi’s friendship starts to crack, and to make matters worse, someone seems to be tracking their every move. Will the two friends solve the mystery behind Estella’s disappearance before it’s too late?

Check out this and other thrilling titles!

What Lies Beneath the Flowers
Natasha Díaz
Delacorte Press/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

Our Wicked Gifts
Kathryn Foxfield
Random House Books for Young Readers/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

Monarchs in the Wild
Israel Moya
Tu Books/Lee & Low Books
Available now!

Mystery Guest
Maren Stoffels
Delacorte Press/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

Paint Me Like Your Dead Girls
Cynthia Murphy
Delacorte Press/Random House Children’s Books
Available now!

Butler Bookshelf

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When a story is silly and gets readers laughing, it makes reading more enjoyable. Every reader needs some silliness every now and then, and the picture books in this week’s Butler Bookshelf are filled with animals at their silliest. This week’s feature pick is Incredibly Fast and Not at All Fun written and illustrated by Tadgh Bentley. All Bear wants is to get to his honeybees fast without walking through the hustle and bustle of the woods, so he invents the Honey Runner, which is very steep, very fast, and not the most comfortable way to get to his bees. However, his invention soon draws attention from the other woodland creatures, much to Bear’s confusion, and the more Bear tries to keep the critters away, the more chaos that ensues.

Check out this book and more below!

Incredibly Fast and Not At All Fun
Tadgh Bentley
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Atheneum
Available now!

Farm Shark
Bill Canterbury
Illustrated by Maddie Frost
Random House Children’s Books/Doubleday Books for Young Readers
Available now!

When Brian Met Terry
Russell Kane
Illustrated by Erica Salcedo
The Quarto Group/words & pictures
Available now!

Cats in Conductor Hats
Sudipta Bardham-Quallen
Illustrated by Leeza Hernandez
Random House Children’s Books/Random House Books for Young Readers
Available now!

Bearsuit Turtle Plays a Game
Bob Shea
ABRAMS/Abrams Books for Young Readers
Available now!

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!

Butler Bookshelf

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For this week’s Butler Bookshelf, we’re looking at picture books featuring fathers. These stories showcase how to express love for parents, father figures in this case, in a multitude of ways and how they care for their children in many ways, too. Our feature pick is Baba Palooza by A.D. Ghani and illustrated by Nadia Alam. Whenever Aziah rides her Baba’s taxi, she feels like a movie star. Since Baba works long hours, Aziah and her father make every second count. When Baba has to miss Aziah’s dance recital due to work, Aziah wants to give her father a surprise he’ll never forget.

Check out more picture books featuring fathers (and grandfathers) below!

Baba Palooza
A.D. Ghani
Illustrated by Nadia Alam
ABRAMS/Abrams Books for Young Readers
Available now!

Ways Papi Says I Love You
Delia Ruiz
Illustrated by: Carlos Vélez Aguilera
Charlesbridge
Available now!

Grumpy Monkey Father’s Day Fuss
Suzanne Lang
Illustrated by: Max Lang
Random House Children’s Books/Random House Studio
Available now!

Sunrise Sail
Charles Trevino
Illustrated by: Maribel Lechuga
Charlesbridge
Available now!

One Two Daddy Loves You
Shelly Becker
Illustrated by: Dan Yaccarino
ABRAMS/Abrams Appleseed
Available now!

Butler Bookshelf

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Interaction is crucial for a child’s development, and board books can be a gateway for very young readers to fall in love with reading. Whether it’s lifting flaps, touching-and-feeling, or asking what a subject, like a color, word, animal, or shape, is, interactive board books can positively stimulate a baby’s or toddler’s brain and make reading a path to discovery. These kind of board books can also function as toys and must be treated with tender loving care (or at least try to do so). This week’s feature pick is Little Softies: Animals: A Touch-and-Feel First Words Book by Wendy Kendall. Readers can feel the soft and colorful felt pages while learning what each animal is called.

Little Softies: Animals: A Touch-and-Feel First Words Book
Wendy Kendall
ABRAMS/Abrams Appleseed
Available now!

¡Mira, Mira! Colors
Lourdes Heuer
Illustrated by Juliana Perdomo
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Little Simon
Available now!

The Questioneers: What’s that Color?
Andrea Beaty
Illustrated by David Roberts
ABRAMS/Abrams Appleseed
Available now!

A Breathe-Along Book: Breathe a Rainbow: With 8 Calming Textures to Trace with Your Finger
Julie Koon
ABRAMS/Abrams Appleseed
Available now!

A Lift-the-Flap Book: Hide-and-Seek Mommy
Marta Altés
ABRAMS/Abrams Appleseed
Available now!

Butler Bookshelf

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Last week we perused mystery in our children’s fiction collection. This week’s picks from our teen fiction collection has mystery with a little pinch of thriller. These horrific YA picks have everything: dark academia, confronting terrible pasts, high stakes, gothic settings, and not to mention murder. With trust being scarce and thrillers from every angle, these characters must navigate treacherous terrain to survive long enough to solve the mystery. This featured pick of the week is That Which Feeds Us by Keala Kendall, a Hawaiian Gothic horror novel. In a search to find Ohia, a missing sister, Lehua’s dream vacation at the Kopa’a Island Resort turns into a nightmare when the boat leaves her behind, but it turns out that Ohia’s disappearance isn’t the island’s only mystery to solve. Despite hearing warnings to leave the island, Lehua needs to unearth the island’s bloody history and face the horrors lurking beneath the sugarcane surface to find her sister.

Check out more YA horror mystery below!

That Which Feeds Us
Keala Kendall
Random House Children’s Books/Random House Books for Young Readers
Available now!

Last to Leave
Teresa Richards
Charlesbridge/Charlesbridge Teen
Available now!

A House of Vipers
Emma Jackson
Random House Children’s Books/Delacorte Press
Available now!

Paradise Coast
Suzanne Young
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Available now!

Heiress of Nowhere
Stacey Lee
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Sarah Barley Books
Available now!

Butler Bookshelf

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Part of our nonfiction collection highlights extraordinary people that made their mark on the world. This week we at the Butler Center are highlighting the books that spotlight extraordinary black people who created an impact that made the world a better place, in celebration of Juneteenth. Our feature pick is A Doctor at Heart: The Story of Groundbreaking Scientist and Teacher Vivien Thomas by Joan Schoettler and illustrated by Steffi Walthall. In spite of poverty and racial injustice, scientist and professor Vivien Thomas revolutionized the field of heart surgery and paved the way for other aspiring medical professionals to follow.

A Doctor at Heart: The Story of Groundbreaking Scientist and Teacher Vivien Thomas
Joan Schoettler
Steffi Walthall
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Beach Lane Books
Available now!

Outspoken: Paul Robeson Ahead of His Time: A One-Man Show
Carole Boston Weatherford
Eric Velasquez
Candlewick Press
Available now!

Fighting with Love: The Legacy of John Lewis
Lesa Cline-Ransome
James E. Ransome
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing/Beach Lane Books/A Paula Wiseman Book
Available now!

Black Lives Great Minds of Science
Tonya Bolden
David Wilkerson
ABRAMS/Abrams Fanfare
Available on September 9, 2026!

Little People, BIG DREAMS: Oprah Winfrey
Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara
Sera Latterell
The Quarto Group/Frances Lincoln Children’s Books
Available now!