Cover Reveals - Middle Grade - XXXVIII

The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle by Janet Fox

Goodreads

Something is not right at Rookskill Castle, a rundown Scottish manor shrouded in mystery. The castle is a temporary boarding school for children escaping the Blitz, but soon it’s clear there is something terribly wrong. There are clues hinting that a spy is in the house, and there are undeniable signs of a sinister magic. When the children in the castle’s temporary boarding school begin disappearing one by one, it’s a race against the clock for twelve-year-old Kat Bateson, her two younger siblings, and their new best friend.

Ticket to India by N.H. Senzai

Goodreads

A map, two train tickets, and a mission. These are things twelve-year-old Maya and her big sister Zara have when they set off on their own from Delhi to their grandmother’s childhood home of Aminpur, a small town in Northern India. Their goal is to find a chest of family treasures that their grandmother’s family left behind when they fled from India to Pakistan during the Great Partition. But soon the sisters become separated, and Maya is alone. Determined to find her grandmother’s lost chest, she continues her trip, on the way enlisting help from an orphan by named Jai.

Maya’s grand adventure through India is as thrilling as it is warm: a journey through her family’s history becomes a real coming-of-age quest.

Secrets of Valhalla by Jasmine Richards

Goodreads

Meet Buzz…
Fact 1: He hates Friday the 13th.
(But getting trapped in a perpetual Saturday loop is definitely worse.)
Fact 2: He thinks myths are hogwash even though he is the son of a mythology professor.
(He’ll soon see that all those myths about Norse and Roman gods are actually real.)
Fact 3: His life is pretty tough at the moment.
(And it’s only going to get tougher now he’s got to save the world…)
It’s not every day that you find a famous weather woman bound by magic to a tree deep in the woods. Or discover that the weather woman is in fact Sunna, the Norse Goddess of the Sun and one of the seven day guardians who keep time in order. But that’s exactly what happens to Buzz and his new friend Mary.
Soon, they realize that with Sunna captured by the Norse God Loki, the world is doomed to repeat the same Saturday forever.
Now, Buzz and Mary will have to embark on a quest through many mythologies to find the magical Runes of Valhalla and rescue the day guardians, before Loki plunges the whole world into chaos for good. . .

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit

Goodreads

A stunning, literary, and wholly original debut novel set in Poland during the Second World War perfect for readers of The Book Thief.

Kraków, 1939. A million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. This is no place to grow up. Anna Łania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father, a linguistics professor, during their purge of intellectuals in Poland. She’s alone.

And then Anna meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall, a skilled deceiver with more than a little magic up his sleeve. And when the soldiers in the streets look at him, they see what he wants them to see.

The Swallow Man is not Anna’s father—she knows that very well—but she also knows that, like her father, he’s in danger of being taken, and like her father, he has a gift for languages: Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish, even Bird. When he summons a bright, beautiful swallow down to his hand to stop her from crying, Anna is entranced. She follows him into the wilderness.

Over the course of their travels together, Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs, tame soldiers, and even, despite their better judgment, make a friend. But in a world gone mad, everything can prove dangerous. Even the Swallow Man.

The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary by Laura Shovan
Goodreads

Eighteen kids,
one year of poems,
one school set to close.
Two yellow bulldozers
crouched outside,
ready to eat the building
in one greedy gulp.

But look out, bulldozers.
Ms. Hill's fifth-grade class
has plans for you.
They're going to speak up
and work together
to save their school.

Laura Shovan's engaging novel is a time capsule of one class's poems during a transformative school year. The students grow up and move on in this big-hearted debut about finding your voice and making sure others hear it.

Secrets of Bearhaven by K.E. Rocha
Goodreads

It starts with a chase. When Spencer Plain is pulled out of school in the middle of the day, he never expects to be speeding down the highway with his uncle, trying to outpace the car that's tailing them. And he certainly never thought he'd find himself fleeing from a bear through the woods.

And when he hears the bear say, "We've been expecting you," Spencer knows he's just uncovered a whole world he'd never imagined. He's brought to Bearhaven, a secret oasis his parents created for bears.

But there are depths to Bearhaven that Spencer and his new bear cub friend, Kate, start to uncover. Spencer finds out he's been there before, even if he can't remember. He also stumbles into a rescue mission being planned to save a bear in danger. He knows he can help, and he's desperate to find clues to his parents' whereabouts, so he and Kate decide to take matters into their own hand--even if they discover a secret that could threaten Bearhaven's future!

Henry Cicada's Extraordinary Elktonium Escapade by David Teague

Goodreads

It’s no surprise when the doghouse in Henry Cicada’s backyard starts glowing. After all, it’s made out of Elktonium, a luminescent green metal his mom invented. But Henry is surprised when the doghouse transports him into the imagination of a twelve-year-old girl named Lulu. So surprised, in fact, he forgets his whole plan to be just ordinary.

But as Henry gets to know Lulu, he realizes she’s a real girl who is in real trouble. Henry knows he has to help Lulu, but doing something so heroic, so courageous, so audacious...well, it would mean abandoning his quest to be ordinary once and for all.

Ravenous by MarcyKate Connolly

Goodreads

A witch has come to the city of Bryre. She travels in a hut that has chicken feet, and is ravenous for children. And once she gets what she desires, she never lets it go.

But when the witch captures Hans, Greta’s little brother, Greta refuses to let her have him. The two strike up a bargain. Greta will retrieve something the witch desires in exchange for her brother’s freedom.

To get the prize Greta must travel to Belladoma—a city where she was once held captive—which brings back terrible memories. With the help of a new friend, Dalen, a magical half-boy and half-horse, Greta embarks on the journey and tries to overcome both foes and her own weaknesses.

For fans of Monstrous and new readers alike comes the story of an epic quest and a heroine who will stop at nothing to save the one she loves most.

Red Moon Rising by K.A. Holt
Goodreads

Space-farmer Rae Darling is kidnapped and trained to become a warrior against her own people in this adventurous middle grade space western.

Rae Darling and her family are colonists on a moon so obscure it doesn’t merit a name. Life is hard, water is scarce, and the farm work she does is grueling. But Rae and her sister Temple are faced with an added complication—being girls is a serious liability in their strict society. Even worse, the Cheese—the colonists’ name for the native people on the moon—sometimes kidnap girls from the human colony. And when Rae’s impetuous actions disrupt the fragile peace, the Cheese come for her and Temple.

Though Rae and Temple are captives in the Cheese society, they are shocked to discover a community full of kindness and acceptance. Where the human colonists subjugated women, the Cheese train the girls to become fierce warriors. Over time, Temple forgets her past and becomes one of the Cheese, but Rae continues to wonder where her loyalties truly lie. When her training is up, will she really be able to raid her former colony? Can she kidnap other girls, even if she might be recruiting them to a better life?

When a Cheese raid goes wrong and the humans retaliate, Rae’s loyalty is put to the ultimate test. Can Rae find a way to restore peace—and preserve both sides of herself?

Which new covers are your favorite?  Let me know in the comments!