In the coffeeshop, there’s always STEAM & people (mostly human), by Shaenon K. Garrity & Emily Holden (Graphic Novel review)

Jun9

Townsfolk and students,
coffee and conversations,
pastry and personalities.

Ruby’s a great coffeeshop employee. She’s also an experimental young adult transhuman created in secret university lab nearby, but only the scientists she escaped from know that.

So many interesting people come to the coffeeshop – Annie the hat who speaks in cryptic sentences, Zev who says pants are a CIA plot, the cute girl always reading comics (co-worker Mira’s crush).

Ruby decides that love must be the “success condition” that makes someone happy, so she designs a data analyzer in the storage room and begins finding romantic matches among townspeople, including her harried boss Lynn, and nudging them together in the coffeeshop.

Meanwhile, the secret lab has mercenaries searching for RB-8, considered a top-level danger threat to humanity!

The more people who become happily paired up, the grumpier Mira gets, especially when she finds Ruby’s machine and fusses at her about invasion of privacy.

Mira already knows that Comic Book Girl is perfect for her, so she and Ruby comb through hints from romantic comedies and concoct a double-date plan involving new regular customer Ward.

But Ruby’s machine shows troubling information about Ward, and the mercenary agents are closing in!

Will Ruby get taken back to the lab?
How can her coffeeshop family protect her?
What really makes someone human?

This graphic novel is drawn by a different artist in a different world than the author’s Dire Days of Willowweep Manor (recommended here https://booksyalove.com/?p=12249) and Nefarious Nights of Willowweep Manor (https://booksyalove.com/?p=15087 ), all three great fun.

Does your favorite coffeeshop know your order by heart?
**kmm

Book info: Steam / Shaenon K. Garrity; illustrated by Emily Holden; inks by Sam McInnis; colors by Monica Nguyen-Vo. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2026. [author site https://www.shaenon.com/] [illustrator site https://emily-holden.com/steam] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Steam/Shaenon-K-Garrity/9781534495852] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Competing and playing: THE ORIGINS OF SPORTS, by Sekaninova, Velcovky, & Ilcik (kids nonfiction book review)

Jun4
Book cover of The Origins of Sports, surrounded by badminton shuttlecocks. golf clubs, ski poles, helmets, ice skates, racquets, mitts, and many different sport balls

Running and kicking,
throwing and batting,
many sports have long histories.

“This book is not about the first to the finish line. It is about who started things. It is about those who felt that playing was more important than winning.” (pg. 1)

In prehistory, running fast and throwing accurately meant survival. Celebrating a strong mind and a strong body, the Ancient Greeks insisted on education and began the Olympic Games.

Swimming has been a life skill and sport for over 900,000 years, we know from very ancient cave paintings! The first manuals on how to swim appeared in 1534.

Skiing developed from Stone Age snowshoes, with the first written records of skiing in China in 206 BCE. New technologies led to professional skiing, snowboarding, and snurfing.

On ice, people first glided with their feet on skates made of bone, then went faster with steel blades. Did you know that ballet dancer Jackson Haines invented figure skates in the 19th century?

With game elements from Egypt, Greece, Native peoples of Canada, France, and England, the first ice hockey matches were played by Canadian university students in the 1870s, who introduced a goaltender and set the rules.

Scotland is called the home of golf, but similar games with a club and ball were played in ancient Rome, China, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

Ball-kicking games played in the Roman Empire, China, and Japan led to soccer, rugby, and football – each with their own rules about ball shape, scoring, time, field markings, and whose hand can touch the ball.

Keeping a feathered ball in the air has been a game for over 2000 years, whether using hands or feet or a paddle or a racket; badminton with feathery shuttlecock and tennis with rubber ball and heavier racket.

Basketball began in 1891 by James Naismith as a year-round indoor sport. Soon after, W.G. Morgan invented volleyball as an indoor winter sport with less running.

Baseball in its modern form was developed in the USA, echoing bat and ball games played in ancient Egypt and England from the 14th century.

Which sport is your favorite?
**kmm

Book info: The Origins of Sports / Stepanka Sekaninova & Tom Velcovsky; illustrated by Matej Ilcik; translated by Andrew Oakland. Albatros, 2023. [publisher site https://www.albatrosbooks.com/book/the-origins-of-sports/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.

Summer of new friends, new enemies, THE ENDLESS GAME, by J. D. Amato & Sophie Morse (MG Graphic Novel)

Jun3
A tween boy looks back as he runs in front of his friends, while others on hillside ride bikes & are lookouts. On hills behind them rise towers with different flags, on either side of book title The Endless Game. Graphic novel written by J D Amato, art by Sophie Morse

His family moved again!
What’s there to do around here?
Oh, capture the flag – all summer!

Lakeside is divided by more than the stream running through the middle of town. For 75 years, the Uphill versus Downhill feud has been channeled into the kids’ summer-long game of Capture the Flag, with each side having a ‘castle’ and a king and a flag and a jail.

When Fred moves to the Illinois town in 1998, his frazzled mom with baby forces the quiet middle schooler to go outside and meet neighbor kids who introduce him to the game which is still going on because no one has ever captured the flag.

The Council of homeschooled kids is neutral and sets the rules: no adult help allowed, tagged kids stay in the other side’s jail from 11 a.m. till the evening streetlights come on every day for the rest of the summer or until rescued!

Downhillers know that cheater Uphill king Jamie caused their king Mike to get sent away for the summer, so they want Uphill to lose more than ever.

While Fred waits for his dad to get transferred from their old town, he’s busy making new friends, learning what skills he’s good at (or not), and trying to help Downhill finally win the game!

Travel Lakeside’s woods and streets with resourceful tweens in this graphic novel of cooperation, competition, and confidence.

What’s your favorite outdoor summer game?
**kmm

Book info: The Endless Game / J. D. Amato; art by Sophie Morse. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2026. [author & illustrator interview https://smack-dab-in-the-middle.blogspot.com/2026/05/interview-with-jd-amato-and-sophie.html] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Endless-Game/J-D-Amato/9781665927154] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Be sweet, be silly, ALWAYS BE MY BIBI, by Priyanka Taslim (YA book review)

Jun2
A Bangladeshi-American teen girl wearing large earrings, many bracelets and bright neck-scarf holds a glass of tea and winks over her heart-shaped rosy sunglasses in front of a terraced hillside and the book title Always Be My Bibi, by Priyana Taslim.

No phone, no fun, no boys,
bummer summer ahead –
until big sister’s big news!

Bibi the flirty fashionista tries to get around Abbu’s archaic rule about her not dating until older sister Halima is married, but the rising senior got caught going to prom and now is grounded for the summer.

Suddenly, big sis and Sunny announce their plans to marry this summer, in both families’ hometown in Bangladesh, and stay there! Is she giving up her dream of being an environmental lawyer?

Abbu is a famed entrepreneur in their Bangladeshi-American Muslim community in New Jersey, but the undisputed royalty in his hometown is Sunny’s family with their tea garden and resort here. So stiff, so formal, even the groom-to-be’s younger brother…

Despite their differences, Bibi and Sohel agree that their siblings aren’t right for each other and scheme to break them up, before it’s too late.

Oooh, a date with Sunny’s rich friend Akash is thrilling! Of course, they are properly chaperoned at all times, just like Halima and Sunny until their wedding.

Why aren’t Sunny and Sohel as close as Bibi and Halima are?
Why is Bibi beginning to enjoy being around Sohel at the tea gardens that he cares for so much?
Is it too late to stop making the engaged couple unhappy with each other?

When her beloved grandmother reveals a secret from her own university days, Bibi wants to solve the mystery, with Sohel’s help…

Releasing in paperback today! (6/2/26)

Got a favorite family wedding story?
**kmm

Book info: Always Be My Bibi / Priyanka Taslim. Salaam Reads, 2025. [author site https://priyankataslim.com/always-be-my-bibi/ ] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Always-Be-My-Bibi/Priyanka-Taslim/9781665901130] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Yes, indeed BLACK HISTORY IS YOUR HISTORY! by Taylor Cassidy (YA nonfiction & memoir review)

May28
Book title Black History is Your History is encircled by hand-drawn portraits of noteworthy Black men and women, below author's name Taylor Cassidy

Angelou and Hurston,
Banneker and Jemison,
the who and the how and the why.

Based on her popular TikTok series “Fast Black History,” Taylor Cassidy presents the stories of 12 important Black people in US history, some of whom should be much better known.

Chapter titles spotlight each person’s legacy, like actress “Cicely Tyson and why good representation matters.”

We meet Ledger Smith, who roller skated from Chicago to D.C. in 1963 to attend the March on Washington and encourage others to go, too.

Gordon Parks overcame many obstacles to become a noted photographer of everyday Black life, segregation, and the Civil Rights Movement.

Each chapter includes a very personal “Taystory” section where the author relates experiences in her young life where she called upon lessons learned from these Black heroes to deal with her emotions and others’ expectations.

Whose example inspires you?
**kmm

Book info: Black History is Your History / Taylor Cassidy; illustrated by Adriana Bellet. Atheneum / Simon & Schuster, 2025. [author site https://www.instagram.com/taylorcassidyj/] [illustrator site https://jeezvanilla.com/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Black-History-Is-Your-History/Taylor-Cassidy/9781665957700] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Her family is like ALL FOUR QUARTERS OF THE MOON, but where is she? by Shirley Marr (MG fiction book review)

May27
In front of a large full moon, a young Chinese girl cups her hands around those of her little sister who holds a paper rabbit. Above them is book title All Four Quarters of the Moon by Shirley Marr. In the foreground below are trees, animals, and a barn, all cut from paper.

New country,
new expectations,
old worries.

It’s good that Ba Ba doesn’t have to work every day of the week as he did in Singapore, but in their new Australian home there are no aunties down the hall for Ma Ma to visit or play mahjongg with Ah Ma.

No cousins to play with, so it’s even harder for 11-year-old Peijing to keep her impulsive little sister Biju in check, as their very traditional family expects.

Speak only English at school, only Chinese at home. Speak up when answering the teacher, never talk back to their parents. Peijing is always worried about doing something wrong.

Thankfully, the sisters can escape to the paper world that they’ve drawn and cut out, where Biju retells the rabbit in the moon story and more.

Ma Ma feels trapped at home with her limited English, Ba Ba gets to do more with the family now, and grandmother Ah Ma has begun forgetting.

How can Peijing help her new schoolfriend Joanna, always hungry?
Why does she have to take Biju wherever she goes, even to a birthday party?
When will Ma Ma ever appreciate her artistic skills?

Peijing feels like her four family members with their varied temperaments are like the four quarters of her favorite mooncakes of the Mid-Autumn Festival, as she tries to work out where she fits in at home and at school.

Another rich and tender story of a family from another country finding their new life in Australia but the author of Glasshouse of Stars , recommended here: https://booksyalove.com/?p=12451.

Where are you in your family’s order of birth?
**kmm

Book info: All Four Quarters of the Moon / Shirley Marr. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, hardcover 2022, paperback 2023. [author site https://www.shirleymarr.net/] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/All-Four-Quarters-of-the-Moon/Shirley-Marr/9781534488861] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Together on THE LAST BEST QUEST EVER! by F.T. Lukens (YA book review)

May26
In a forest clearing, a teen girl lies on her back and looks up, holding a hunting knife to the neck of the royal young person looking down into her eyes while they point an arrow at her heart. Above them, the book title The Last Best Quest Ever, by F.T. Lukens

Dragon vanquished,
giant spiders dispatched –
sort of…

At 17, Ellinore the Brave is tired of finagling her way through quests to entertain the royals. No one knows that she’s won every quest with problem-solving instead of swordplay.

She’s earned enough money for her parents to retire, so it’s time to quit and go visit the dragon she relocated instead of slaying (shhh…)

Except that her impulsive twin brother Zig tried to scam the wrong mages and instead earned a death curse. Now she has to locate and bring back a truly mythical item in a short time or the mages will remove Zig’s heart!

As for Princet Aven? Fed up with finishing second to Ellinore on every quest, they swiftly find her and Zig at home, eager to assist in this near-impossible quest to find the never-seen mythic Elder Beast.

Along the way, the trio is joined by a teen fan-girl who’s had a few quarterstaff lessons and a young scholar (very intent on debunking the bards’ songs about Ellinore’s daring feats) who agrees to take them to his grandfather’s secret knowledge trove.

As the group encounters magical beings and treacherous territory, it gets harder for Ellinore to keep her secrets and ignore her long-standing attraction to Aven. They may be last in the royal line of succession, but are still far above her commoner status.

Oh no! The other questers of the realm have also heard about the Elder Beast and will do anything to get there first! Wherever there is…

Does the Elder Beast truly exist?
Can Ellinore and Aven keep their inexperienced quest-mates safe?
Can she save her brother’s life?

By the author of
In Deeper Waters https://booksyalove.com/?p=12378
So This Is Ever After https://booksyalove.com/?p=12989
Spell Bound https://booksyalove.com/?p=13689
Otherworldly https://booksyalove.com/?p=14421
Love at Second Sight https://booksyalove.com/?p=15085

Happy book birthday to The Last Best Quest Ever – if Lukens writes it, I want to read it!

Which of your pals would you choose for your quest team?
**kmm

Book info: The Last Best Quest Ever / F.T. Lukens. Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2026. [author site https://www.ft-lukens.com/thelastbestquestever] [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-Best-Quest-Ever/F-T-Lukens/9781665950978] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

WRITING IN COLOR: 14 Writers on the Lessons We’ve Learned, edited by Nafiza Azad & Melody Simpson (YA nonfiction book review)

May21
Three hands in shades of brown use pen, pencil, and marker to inscribe book title Writing in Color: Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We've Learned. Surrounding the words are bright butterflies and glowing flowers. Below are listed the writers: Julie C. Dao, Chloe Gong, Joan He, Kosoko Jackson, Adiba Jaigirdar, Darcie Little Badger, Yamile Saied Méndez, Axie Oh, Laura Pohl, Cindy Pon, Karuna Riazi, Gail D. Villanueva, Julian Winters, and Kat Zhang.

Characters, plot,
themes, action –
now what?

BIPOC authors of YA fiction share their experiences of getting started as a writer and advice on staying true to your own story while navigating the still-so-white publishing world as a person of color.

The first essays cover Craft: Starting from a Blank Page, as Kosovo Jackson gives 6 questions to ask yourself like “What do I want to be known for?” and Axie Oh notes that yours is a unique point of view – “you not only notice the books that are being published, but also the ones that are not.” (pg. 21)

All can be writers, but becoming an author requires commitment to the Journey: Querying, Publishing and Beyond. Adiba Jaigirdar takes us on the Publishing Roller Coaster with book deals and rejections, Julian Winters grapples with imposter syndrome, and Darcy Little Badger counsels perseverance.

“BIPOC authors know, all too well, what it is to be bled of joy,” says Julie C. Dao. “And yet joy is integral to this career. Joy is what got us here in the first place.” (pgs.226-227)

Contributors include: Julie C. Dao, Chloe Gong, Joan He, Kosoko Jackson, Adiba Jaigirdar,
Darcie Little Badger, (Elatsoe, https://booksyalove.com/?p=11663)
Yamile Saied Méndez, (stories in anthologies Calling the Moon https://booksyalove.com/?p=14303 , Rural Voices https://booksyalove.com/?p=11936 & Come On In https://booksyalove.com/?p=11814 )
Axie Oh, Laura Pohl,
Cindy Pon, (Want https://booksyalove.com/?p=8943)
Karuna Riazi, (The Gauntlet https://booksyalove.com/?p=8849 & Hungry Hearts anthology https://booksyalove.com/?p=10918 )
Gail D. Villanueva, Julian Winters,
and Kat Zhang (The Memory of Forgotten Things https://booksyalove.com/?p=10407) .

It is my privilege to recommend many under-represented voices on BooksYALove.

Look for this great collection of writing advice in hardcover or paperback at your local library https://search.worldcat.org/libraries or independent bookstore https://www.indiebound.org/indie-store-finder. Did you know that if you order any book through https://bookshop.org/ you can designate which indie bookstore gets credit for your purchase? (NO affiliate links here, ever.)

Are you ready to write?
**kmm

Book info: Writing In Color: Fourteen Writers on the Lessons We’ve Learned / Nafiza Azad & Melody Simpson, editors. Margaret K. McElderry Books, hardcover 2023, paperback 2024. [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Writing-in-Color/Julie-C-Dao/9781665925655] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Who is MAKING WAVES now?! tween cruise ship drama, by Lee Heart (MG book review)

May20
Silhouetted against the ocean and setting sun, a tween girl with ponytail and tween boy are talking on cruise ship deck, below book title Making Waves by Lee Heart.

First the beautiful wedding,
now the cruise all together –
it’ll be perfect, right?

Since their widowed mom and her divorced dad started dating, Hannah and Lucy have constantly teased Emma.

Now they’re all on a cruise in the Caribbean to bond as a family after the wedding. The twins mock Emma’s enthusiasm for all the ship’s activities and that she’s taller at 12 than they are at 13, but she tries to take it in stride.

Oh, the cutest boy dances with Emma at the bon voyage party! Hopefully they can spend some time together, but it’s a such a huge ship…

Their parents tell the girls to stick together in the evenings and absolutely no Teen Club, but Hannah and Lucy go there anyway!

Emma makes friends at Kidz Korner and sees Justin a few times – only a few days to figure out if he likes her or is just being polite.

Why is Lucy being so mean to her?
Do the twins always disobey their mom?
Will she ever get to spend some time with Justin?

The ship is sailing smoothly, but Emma’s life isn’t!

Has your family been on a cruise together?
**kmm

Book info: Making Waves (a Spotlight Sprinkles book) / Lee Heart. Simon Spotlight, 2026. [publisher site https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Making-Waves/Lee-Heart/Spotlight-Sprinkles/9798347103584] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

D IS FOR DOG! and everything dogs do! By Em Lynas and Sara Ogilvie (kids picturebook review)

May19
The sketched heads of 3 different happy dogs are seen through a large cut-out capital letter D on a short, wide book cover of D is for Dog! by Em Lynas and Sara Ogilvie

If you like who dogs are
and what dogs do,
here, my friend, is the book for you!

This whimsically illustrated poem begins “A is for action… and B is for bark” with a running dog chasing pigeons, then a hound on its hind legs barking at the cat atop its letter B.

Unlike most tall, square picture books, this one is short and wide, so “F is for flopping” displays a very furry dog spread out across both pages, as does “N is for napping…and napping…and napping again” where the very large dog slowly slips off its chair as it naps – common dog habits that we all recognize.

The cover’s capital D is cut out, giving a peek at the cute canines within, and at the end of this alphabetic poem, you’ll find all the dog breeds pictured, letter by letter, some with very unusual names!

Be sure to scan the included QR code so you can hear an audio reading of this rollicking, rhyming book.

What is your favorite dog behavior?
**kmm

Book info: D is for Dog! / Em Lynas; illustrated by Sara Ogilvie. Nosy Crow Inc. 2024. [author site https://www.instagram.com/emlynas/] [illustrator info https://nosycrow.us/contributor/sara-ogilvie/] [publisher site https://nosycrow.us/product/d-is-for-dog/] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher, via Publisher Spotlight.