Scholastic Book Fairs Podcast

Going to school and making new friends can be tough. But going to school and making new friends while wearing a bulky hearing aid strapped to your chest? That requires superpowers! In this funny, poignant graphic novel memoir, author/illustrator Cece Bell chronicles her hearing loss at a young age and her subsequent experiences with the Phonic Ear, a very powerful - and very awkward - hearing aid. The Phonic Ear gives Cece the ability to hear - sometimes things she shouldn’t - but also isolates her from her classmates. She really just wants to fit in and find a true friend, someone who appreciates her as she is. After some trouble, she is finally able to harness the power of the Phonic Ear and become “El Deafo, Listener for All.” And more importantly, declare a place for herself in the world and find the friend she’s longed for.

It's been a year since Paige Hancock's first boyfriend died in an accident. After shutting out the world, Paige is finally ready for a second chance at high school, and she has a plan. First: Get her old crush, Ryan Chase, to date her - the perfect way to convince everyone she's back to normal. Next: Join a club - simple, it's high school after all. But when Ryan's sweet, nerdy cousin, Max, moves to town and recruits Paige for the Quiz Bowl team (of all things!), her perfect plan is thrown for a serious loop. Will Paige be able to face her fears and finally open herself up to the life she was meant to live?

Josie's timid, but she comes out of her shell when she and her dog, Clementine, volunteer at the local hospital during the holiday season. Between her beloved Clementine and a load of Christmas fun, what more could she need? Oscar's parents are fighting more and more, and so is he. He gets into trouble at school, and his punishment? Volunteer hours at the local hospital. Gabby's life seems perfect. She's the star of the soccer team, super stylish, and everyone looks up to her. But she has a secret, and if it gets out, she'll lose everything. Then Clementine disappears, Oscar's parents separate, and Gabby ends up in the hospital. All Josie wanted was to help make the perfect Christmas, but it seems like things couldn't get any worse! Can Josie, Oscar, and Gabby find a way to save the holiday?

Fly Guy and Buzz are ready for their next buzzworthy field trip - into a bat cave to learn all about bats! With straightforward text, humorous asides, and kid-friendly photographs throughout, young readers will be buzzzz-ing about these nocturnal creatures.

"From bestselling authors Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pearce comes an exciting new series full of magical creatures, whimsical adventures, and quirky illustrations. Here’s a list of things Pip Bartlett can talk to: Unicorns, Miniature Silky Griffins, Bitterflunks… basically, all magical creatures. Here’s a list of things she can’t talk to (at least, not very well): Parents, Teachers… basically, all people. Because of a Unicorn Incident at her school (it was an accident!), Pip is spending the summer with her Aunt Emma at the Cloverton Clinic for Magical Creatures. At first, it’s all fun, games, and chatting with Hobgrackles, but when Fuzzles appear and start bursting into flame at the worst possible places, Pip and her new friend Tomas Ramirez must take action. Because if the mystery of the Fuzzles isn’t solved soon, both magical and unmagical creatures are going to be in a lot of trouble."

Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher, Mr. Daniels, sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble- maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of. As her confidence grows, Ally feels free to be herself and the world starts opening up with possibilities. She discovers that there’s a lot more to her, and to everyone, than a label and that great minds don’t always think alike.

No more pencils, no more books. No more teachers’ dirty looks. When their fifth-grade teacher quits in the middle of teaching a lesson, the students of class 507 assume it’ll be one big holiday - if they can just keep the principal, the rest of the school, and their parents from finding out. But they quickly learn that school without a teacher isn’t easy, and keeping a secret is harder than they ever imagined. Maybe even harder than fractions!

No more pencils, no more books. No more teachers’ dirty looks. When their fifth-grade teacher quits in the middle of teaching a lesson, the students of class 507 assume it’ll be one big holiday - if they can just keep the principal, the rest of the school, and their parents from finding out. But they quickly learn that school without a teacher isn’t easy, and keeping a secret is harder than they ever imagined. Maybe even harder than fractions!

Alexis, Nick, and Ruby have very different backgrounds: Alexis has spent her life covering for her mom’s mental illness, Nick’s bravado hides his fear of not being good enough, and Ruby just wants to pursue her eccentric interests in a world that doesn’t understand her. When the three teens join Portland County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue, they are teamed up to search for a autistic man lost in the woods. What they find instead is shocking. In a friendship that will be forged in danger, fear and courage, the three team up to find a killer before he can strike one of their own.

Devin doesn’t remember life before the world got hot. He has grown up farming the scorched earth with his grandfather in their remote valley. When his grandfather dies, Devin heads for the city. Once there, among the stark glass buildings, he finds scores of children just like him, living alone on the streets. They tell him rumors of a place for abandoned children, with unlimited food and toys and the hope of finding a new family. But only the luckiest get there. An act of kindness earns Devin an invitation to the home, but it’s soon clear that it’s no paradise. As Devin investigates the intimidating administrator and the zombie-like sickness that afflicts some children, he discovers the home’s horrific true mission. The only real hope is escape, but the place is as secure as a fortress. Fans of dystopian fiction and spine-chilling adventure will devour THE ONE SAFE PLACE. Its haunting themes will resonate long after readers have turned the final page.

For the teens at The Haven, the outside world, just beyond the towering stone wall that surrounds the premises, is a dangerous unknown. It has always been this way, ever since the hospital was established in the year 2020. But The Haven is more than just a hospital; it is their home. It is all they know. Everything is strictly monitored: education, exercise, food, and rest. The rules must be followed to keep the children healthy, to help control the Disease that has cast them as Terminals, the Disease that claims limbs and lungs - and memories. But Shiloh is different; she remembers everything. Gideon is different, too. He dreams of a cure - of rebellion against the status quo. What if everything they’ve been told is a lie? What if The Haven is not the safe place it claims to be? And what will happen if Shiloh starts asking dangerous questions?

Eva sees a ghost! Or at least, she thinks she does. What else could that all-white owl Eva sees be? With her friend Lucy by her side, Eva goes in search of the ghost. Eek!

Massive jaws. Venomous barbs. Electric jolts. Underwater predators have an arsenal of weapons that give them superiority over their prey. But what would happen if apex marine predators were pitted against against one another? Who would prevail in the battle between a killer whale and a great white shark? In a clash of river monsters, could a green anaconda take down a freshwater stingray? The winners of these and other predator-on-predator fights to the finish can all be found in this full-color book. Underwater showdowns are profiled usng photos, stats, and all the detailed information readers need to predict the winners.

Cassie Arroyo, an American studying in Rome, has her world ripped apart when someone tries to kill her father, an art history professor at an Italian university. Is she their next target? Cassie sets out to uncover what is happening, only to learn that she is a member of an ancient bloodline that enables her to use the Spear of Destiny - a legendary object that can alter the future. Now running from a secret organization intent on killing those from her bloodline, Cassie must - with the help of some friends - decipher the clues that will lead her to the Spear. This fast-paced, thrill-ride of a book, rich with riddles and myth, is one that young readers will not want to put down.

From NEW YORK TIMES bestselling authors Sarah Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, and Emily Jenkins comes the hilarious and heartfelt story of a group of magical misfits. Nory Horace is nine years old. She's resourceful, she's brave, and she likes peanut butter cookies. Also, she's able to transform into many different animals. Unfortunately, Nory's shape-shifting talent is a bit wonky. And when she flunks out of her own father's magic academy, Nory is forced to enter public school, where she meets a group of kids whose magic is, well, different. This new, offbeat series chronicles the misadventures of Nory and her oddball friends, who prove that upside-down magic definitely beats right side up.

From the groundbreaking and award-winning sister-brother team behind BABYMOUSE comes a middle-grade, semi-autobiographical graphic novel. Following the lives of kids whose older brother's delinquent behavior has thrown their family into chaos, SUNNY SIDE UP is at once a compelling "problem" story and a love letter to the comic books that help the protagonist make sense of her world. This 200-page, full-color graphic novel is the perfect next step for fans of Raina Telgemeier's SMILE and SISTERS, though it does have a slightly more mature theme, dealing with family drug issues.

Identical twins Nikki and Maya have been on the same page for everything - friends, school, boys, and starting off their adult lives at a historically African-American college. But as their neighborhood goes from rough-and-tumble to up-and-coming, suddenly filled with pretty coffee shops and boutiques, Nikki is thrilled while Maya feels like their home is slipping away. Suddenly, the sisters who had always shared everything must confront their dissenting feelings on the importance of their ethnic and cultural identities and, in the process, learn to separate themselves from the long shadow of their identity as twins.

Once upon a time, two best friends created a princess together. Libby drew the pictures, May wrote the tales, and their heroine, Princess X, slayed all the dragons and scaled all the mountains their imaginations could conjure. Once upon a few years later, Libby was in the car with her mom, driving across the Ballard Bridge on a rainy night. When the car went over the side, Libby passed away and Princess X died with her. Once upon a now: May is sixteen and lonely, wandering the streets of Seattle, when she sees a sticker slapped in a corner window. Princess X? When May looks around, she sees the Princess everywhere: Stickers. Patches. Graffiti. There's an entire underground culture focused around a webcomic at IAmPrincessX.com. The more May explores the webcomic, the more she sees disturbing similarities between Libby's story and Princess X online. And that means that only one person could have started this phenomenon. Could Libby be alive?

Matt and Mike are best friends, just two working-class guys trying to earn some money in Montauk for the summer. When they meet Driana, JoJo and Stef, three friends who live a much different life of privilege, Matt and Mike find themselves in a sticky situation where temptation rivals sensibility. Worlds collide when the group ventures out to sea aboard a small boat that Stef sneaks out from her dad's dock. As the waves rise and the fragile vessel weakens, things go horribly wrong. Adrift at sea for days, who will have what it takes to survive?