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  2020 Great Kids Books  
Skunk and Badger

Amy Timberlake - Algonquin Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

Wallace and Gromit meets Winnie-the-Pooh in a fresh take on a classic odd-couple friendship, from Newbery Honor author Amy Timberlake and Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen. No one wants a skunk. They are unwelcome on front stoops. They should not linger in Important Rock Rooms. Skunks...
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Our Friend Hedgehog: The Story of Us

Lauren Castillo - Knopf Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

From a Caldecott Honor-winning artist comes a cozy classic-in-the-making about finding your friends and sticking together through thick and thin. "Our Friend Hedgehog feels like a modern-day Winnie the Pooh. It's so warm and full of joy and love. It's got classic written all over...
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Stella Diaz Never Gives Up

Angela Dominguez - Roaring Brook Press
Format: Hardcover

From award-winning author Angela Dominguez comes the novel Stella Diaz Never Gives Up, a story about a shy Mexican-American girl who becomes an environmental activist and makes a difference in her community.Stella gets a big surprise when her mom plans a trip to visit their family...
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Stella Endicott and the Anything-Is-Possible Poem: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume Five

Kate DiCamillo - Candlewick
Format: Hardcover

Metaphor alert! An ode to a certain pig kicks off one wild school day in Kate DiCamillo's latest stop on Deckawoo Drive.Stella Endicott loves her teacher, Miss Liliana, and she is thrilled when the class is assigned to write a poem. Stella crafts a beautiful poem about Mercy Watson,...
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Echo Mountain

Lauren Wolk - Dutton Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The Newbery Honor-winning author of Wolf Hollow returns with the story of an unforgettable young heroine in Depression-era Maine.After the financial crash, Ellie and her family have lost nearly everything - including their home in town. Forced to start over, Ellie has found a welcome freedom,...
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Ways to Make Sunshine

Renée Watson - Bloomsbury Children's Books
Format: Hardcover

From Newbery Honor and Coretta Scott King Author Award winner Rene Watson comes the first book in a young middle grade series about Ryan Hart, a girl who is pure spirit, kindness, and sunshine.Ryan Hart has a lot on her mind--school, self-image, and especially family. Her dad finally has a new job,...
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Three Keys

Kelly Yang - Scholastic Press
Format: Hardcover

The story of Mia and her family and friends at the Calivista Motel continues in this powerful, hilarious, and resonant sequel to the award-winning novel Front Desk.Mia Tang thinks she's going to have the best year ever.She and her parents are the proud owners of the Calivista Motel,...
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The One and Only Bob

Katherine Applegate - HarperCollins
Format: Hardcover

Return to the unforgettable world of the Newbery Medal-winning and #1 New York Times bestselling novel The One and Only Ivan (soon to be a major motion picture!) in this incredible sequel, starring Ivan's friend Bob!Bob sets out on a dangerous journey in search of his long-lost sister...
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Becoming Muhammad Ali

James Patterson - jimmy patterson
Format: Hardcover

From two heavy-hitters in children's literature comes a biographical novel of cultural icon Muhammad Ali, jointly published by Jimmy Patterson Books and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books or Young Readers. Before he was a household name, Cassius Clay was a kid with struggles like any other....
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Wink

Rob Harrell - Dial Books
Format: Hardcover

A hilarious and heartwrenching story about surviving middle school--and an unthinkable diagnosis--while embracing life's weirdness.Ross Maloy just wants to be a normal seventh grader. He doesn't want to lose his hair, or wear a weird hat, or deal with the disappearing friends who don't...
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Maanaland

Pam Muñoz Ryan

Newbery Honoree Pam Muoz Ryan weaves an entrancing tale of courage and self-discovery."Uniquely magical...Timely and timeless." -- New York Times* "This tightly packed, powerful fantasy contains resonant truths." -- Kirkus Reviews
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One Year at Ellsmere

Hicks, Faith Erin - FIRST SECOND
Format: Book

Winning a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school, Juniper endures bullying from a popular queen bee before investigating rumors about a mythical beast in the nearby forest.
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Letters from Cuba

Ruth Behar - Nancy Paulsen Books
Format: Hardcover

Pura Belpr Award Winner Ruth Behar's inspiring story of a young Jewish girl who escapes Poland to make a new life in Cuba, while she works to rescue the rest of her familyThe situation is getting dire for Jews in Poland on the eve of World War II. Esther's father has fled to Cuba,...
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Tristan Strong Destroys the World (A Tristan Strong Novel, Book 2) (Tristan Strong, 2)

Kwame Mbalia - Rick Riordan Presents
Format: Paperback

Bestselling author Rick Riordan presents the second book in the New York Times best-selling and award-winning Tristan Strong trilogy by Kwame Mbalia, now in paperback."Mbalias universe continues to excite through sheer conceptual brilliance, nonstop action and adventure, and--lets...
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The List of Things That Will Not Change

Rebecca Stead - Wendy Lamb Books
Format: Hardcover

When life takes a new direction, it's comforting to know that some things will not change. A brilliant and touching story about navigating big family shifts, from the masterful Newbery Medal winning author of When You Reach Me.When Bea's parents got divorced, they told her about two big changes:...
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Prairie Lotus

Linda Sue Park
Format: Hardcover

Prairie Lotus is a book about a girl determined to fit in and realize her dreams: getting an education, becoming a dressmaker in her father's shop, and making at least one friend. Hanna, a half-Asian girl in a small town in America's heartland, lives in 1880. Hanna's...
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The Fowl Twins Deny All Charges

Eoin Colfer

*"Like its bestselling progenitors, a nonstop spinoff afroth with high tech, spectacular magic, and silly business."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Artemis's little brothers Myles and Beckett borrow the Fowl jet without permission, and it ends up as a fir
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Twins

Varian Johnson - Graphix
Format: Hardcover

Coretta Scott King Honor author Varian Johnson teams up with rising cartoonist Shannon Wright for a delightful middle-grade graphic novel!Maureen and Francine Carter are twins and best friends. They participate in the same clubs, enjoy the same foods, and are partners on all their school...
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When Stars Are Scattered

Victoria Jamieson - Dial Books
Format: Hardcover

Heartbreak and hope exist together in this remarkable graphic novel about growing up in a refugee camp, as told by a Somali refugee to the Newbery Honor-winning creator of Roller Girl.Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, have spent most of their lives in Dadaab, a refugee camp in Kenya....
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Exquisite: The Poetry and Life of Gwendolyn Brooks

Suzanne Slade - Abrams Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

A picture-book biography of celebrated poet Gwendolyn Brooks, the first Black person to win the Pulitzer Prize Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) is known for her poems about "real life." She wrote about love, loneliness, family, and poverty - showing readers how just about anything...
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World of Glass: The Art of Dale Chihuly

Jan Greenberg - Abrams Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The first children's book about Dale Chihuly, the world-renowned glass sculptor His crew calls him Maestro. Thousands of fans call him a magician. Over the past five decades, Dale Chihuly (b. 1941) has created some of the most innovative and popular works of art in museums and gardens...
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Dream Builder: The Story of Architect Philip Freelon

Kelly Starling Lyons - Lee & Low Books
Format: Hardcover

Philip Freelon's grandfather was an acclaimed painter of the Harlem Renaissance. His father was a successful businessman who attended the 1963 March on Washington. When Phil decided to attend architecture school, he created his own focus on African American and Islamic designers. He later...
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Dinosaur Lady

Skeers, Linda - SOURCEBOOKS EXPLORE


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The Cat Man of Aleppo

Karim Shamsi-Basha - G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover

The courageous and true story of Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel, who in the midst of the Syrian Civil War offered safe haven to Aleppo's abandoned cats.Aleppo's city center no longer echoes with the rich, exciting sounds of copper-pot pounding and traditional sword sharpening. His neighborhood...
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Over and Under the Rainforest

Kate Messner - Chronicle Books
Format: Hardcover

Part of the critically acclaimed Over and Under series!Award-winning duo Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal take readers on a thrilling tour of one of the most diverse ecosystems on planet earth: the rainforests of Central America. Discover the wonder that lies hidden among the roots,...
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