Another year, another round of amazing local authors releasing phenomenal books for every age! There’s something special about reading a book by an author who is your neighbor, whose kids go to your kids’ school; authors who went to high school with your siblings or your cousins; whose people you happen to know because they’re your people too. It brings the stories that they write, which can cross eras and oceans and countries and entire realms, right back to your doorstep.
Picture books
“Juneteenth Is” by Natasha Tripplett, Chronicle Books, $17.99
This book illustrates Juneteenth with both seriousness and joy. It explains the history, and the darkness, while continually shining the light of celebration across its pages. I genuinely had a wonderful time reading it!
“Roar-Choo” by Charlotte Cheng, Rocky Pond Books, $18.99
Between the relatable story — we all know that one person who refuses to slow down when they’re sick — and the amazing illustrations by multi-award winning Dan Santat, Cheng’s wonderful story about friendship and self-care makes for a fantastic read-aloud for storytime or at bedtime.
“Bao’s Doll” by Bo Lu, Abrams Books For Young Readers, $18.99
This is one of those picture books that will stay with you; great for kids, and it might be even better for adults. Bao is a little girl who doesn’t understand her mother, and whose mother doesn’t understand her, and the weight of their inability to truly talk is gut-wrenching until, at last, they make a doll out of memories and hopes.
Lu’s illustrations as well as her words will leave you wanting to read this book over and over again.
“We Who Produce Pearls: An Anthem for Asian America” by Joanna Ho, Orchard Books, $19.99
Between Ho’s lyrical anthem, a call to arms moving through major and minor keys, and Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya’s absolutely stunning art, everyone who reads this book comes away inspired and ready to stand up for what’s right, and ready for the fight ahead.
Although this is very much a picture book, and an excellent gift for kids, I would definitely recommend it for teens and adults as well.
“Touch the Sky” by Stephanie Lucianovic, Carolrhoda Books, $18.99
This one has been doing the rounds as a favorite for many people this year, and rightfully so. This is a very accessible and relatable story about how learning something new can be scary and difficult, but sometimes all you need is a little push and a friend full of encouragement, teaching you with kindness and warmth.
“The Night Market” by Seina Wedlick, Random House Studio, $18.99
This is a gorgeous book about the night market in Lagos and all the sights, sounds, and smells you might find there. Wedlick’s story and illustrator Briana Mukodiri Uchendu’s amazing art will transport you to Nigeria in such a way that you will immediately want to buy plane tickets so you can experience it in person.
Novels for kids
“Lily Xiao Speaks Out” by Nicole Chen (ages 10+, can be read younger), Quill Tree Books, $19.99
Chen’s second novel for kids is contemporary historical fiction (I regret to inform you that the 1990s are now, gulp, historical) about how hard it can be to move to a new country whose language you don’t speak — or read — and the choices kids sometimes have to make in the face of deciding what’s right and what’s wrong. It’s also a wonderful celebration of ’90s rock and grunge — time to introduce the kids to some of the best music!
“The Truth About Triangles” by Michael Leali (ages 10+, can be read younger), HarperCollins, $19.99
Lambda Award finalist Michael Leali’s latest novel will make you hungry — it takes place in a family pizzeria — but its heart will also bring such a smile to your face. Being 12 is hard when your parents are having problems, your family business might be failing and your best friend and your crush might have eyes for each other.
This book is perfect for kids who are just on the cusp of that beautiful something: moving out of childhood and into teenagerdom and all the emotions that come with it.
“The Wrong Way Home” by Kate O’Shaughnessy (ages 10+), Knopf Books for Young Readers, $17.99
A couple of months ago, one of my co-workers walked into Linden Tree and would not stop talking about this book to literally all of us. O’Shaughnessy has managed that amazing feat of the literary world: a serious novel that is absolutely for kids but adults love just as much.
Main character Fern has lived in her community for most of her life. She loves it and she believes in it but one night, her mom sneaks them out into the world, telling her that the leader of the community is dangerous. Fern isn’t sure she believes her mother, but she learns so much at her new school and from her new friends, including so many things that she thought were … wrong.
“The Everybody Experiment” by Lisa Moore Ramée (ages 9+, can be read younger), HarperCollins, $19.99
Ramée’s latest novel is about Kylie, who thinks that her friends are all so much more mature than she is, and who is about to enter middle school and doesn’t want her friends to leave her behind. She figures that she can put her scientific mind to use and experiment over the summer with how to be just like everyone else.
This book is a great one to hand off to kids who are trying to figure out fitting in while staying true to themselves, and I would especially recommend it for any 5th or 6th grader.
Novels for teens and adults
“Everything We Never Had” by Randy Ribay, Kokila, $18.99
This is, genuinely, one of my favorite books that was published this year, I even talked about it on an NPR podcast. This book follows four generations of Filipino American fathers and sons, and it is, at times, a tough read (it covers the Watsonville riots). Of course, complicated father-son relationships are often difficult to read, but it’s such an important book for California and American history. This one is especially great for the teen boys and the men in your life, but absolutely everyone should read it.
“Kill Her Twice” by Stacey Lee, G.P Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, $18.99
I love everything Lee has written, to be honest. She does wonderful, well-researched historical fiction from a Chinese American perspective and I could talk to you about why her books are important all day. But I really, really liked this one because it’s also a very well-written mystery, so I recommend it for any mystery fans on your list. It takes place in 1930s Los Angeles Chinatown, which no longer exists as they razed it to build Union Station, so it’s for my fellow history nerds, too.
“Kisses, Codes, and Conspiracies” by Abigail Hing Wen, Feiwel & Friends, $19.99
A fun one for your mystery-loving family and friends, and this one takes place in the right here and now in Palo Alto (and the rest of the Bay)! Wen wrote such a fun romp with this one that I’ve already re-read it twice, just because I had so much fun the first time. There is also a charming love story, an excellent little sister and, because it’s Wen, a moral heft in a crazy story, because that’s just how life is.
“We Shall Be Monsters” by Tara Sim, Nancy Paulsen Books, $19.99
Sometimes, what you really need is a fun fantasy novel and this is it. Inspired by both Indian mythology and “Frankenstein,” Sim’s latest novel is about a girl who can bring people back from the dead. People like her sister, who comes back wrong and oh-so-angry, and also the crown prince, who made a very attractive corpse, and who, whoops, wasn’t the right man at all. Now she — and her undead dog and the attractive no-longer-a-corpse, not-the-prince guy — need to find the prince, so she’s not executed for bringing back her sister, who is trying to kill her.
“This Ravenous Fate” by Hayley Dennings, Sourcebooks Fire, $18.99
Also a fun fantasy, but this time with vampires and set in Harlem in the Jazz Age. It’s a lushly illustrated world that manages to feel real and escapist at the same time. I especially loved the way Dennings plays with real history here, and the queer romance was wonderful.
“Shut Up, This Is Serious” by Carolina Ixta, Quill Tree Books, $19.99
Like “Everything We Never Had,” this is a book I can’t stop talking about to people. I just love it. Ixta’s characters jump off the page at me as people I went to school with, friends and classmates I’ve known my whole life. It also makes me, as an adult, want to hold Belén and Leti and tell them that they’re going to be ok. The world is big and the terrors are real and depression is such a beast and school doesn’t always go the way you want it to or think it should — but teenage girls are so much stronger than anyone gives them credit for, and they’re gonna save themselves and the rest of us.
Four special mentions
“Ava Lin, Best Friend!” by Vicky Fang, Candlewick, $5.99
This early chapter book is about a brand-new first grader and it’s specifically aimed at kids ages 5-8, so perfect for your child who is learning to read, or for you to read to your kid who has just started elementary school. Ava is a charming, funny and very determined 6 year old who knows what she wants (a best friend) but is somewhat unclear on how exactly to go about getting that.
“The Chair and the Valley” by Banning Lyon, The Open Field, $29
Full disclosure: Banning is a friend of my sister’s, but I have it on good authority (my co-workers, our grown-up book club members, random people off the street) that I am not biased when I say that this book is spectacular. When Banning was a teenager, his parents were convinced that he was suicidal (he was not) and he was committed to an adolescent psych ward. What followed were months of horror and trauma and, years later, discovering that the for-profit hospital where he’d been committed had been for years perpetrating extensive insurance fraud: keeping teenagers locked up and abusing them without helping them and bilking their parents’ insurance companies for as much as possible. Amazingly, this story has a happy ending, but the journey there is very long. Younger teenagers can definitely read this, but I would recommend it for ages 16+.
“A City Full of Santas” by Joanna Ho, HarperCollins, $19.99
Yes, Joanna Ho makes this list again! This absolutely adorable book is inspired by her own adventures with her children in San Francisco during Santa Con. The story is both charming and relatable (must find the REAL Santa!) and Thai Phuong’s accompanying illustrations are absolute perfection. So grab some cookies and hot chocolate and have yourself a cozy storytime!
“Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All” by Chanel Miller, Philomel Books, $17.99
This is technically cheating as Miller is no longer local, but she’s a born-and-raised Palo Alto kid like me, and Linden Tree loved this book SO much I felt like I had to include it. Magnolia helps her parents run their laundromat and one summer she and her new best friend decide they’re going to return all the lonely lost socks to their owners. What follows is fun romp through New York as they solve the mystery of each missing sock. This book is perfect for kids ages 7+ but can be read to them younger.
Grace Lane is the store manager of Linden Tree Books in Los Altos. She can be reached at [email protected].
This post was originally published on here
