Akata Warrior by Nnedi Okorafor. Viking, 2017.
At last, a long-awaited sequel to Akata Witch, complete with new covers for both books. It’s been just a year in book time since Sunny Nwazue and her three juju-learning Leopard team mates defeated the evil Black Hat. (Leopard and Lamb here being the Nigerian equivalent of wizard and muggle.) Now, all of them are furthering their studies. Sunny is working hard to decode the magical picture language of Nsibisi, while trying to cover up her exhaustion from midnight magic classes after a full day of regular classes (no magical boarding school for these students.) Sunny’s friendship with Orlu is slowly deepening into something more, while Chichi and Sasha have a relationship that’s both openly romantic and openly fighting. When Sunny’s big brother goes off to college with a great deal of fanfare, it turns into something much more sinister, something his little sister will have to rescue him from… The action ratchets up throughout the book, and Sunny will have to know herself better than she ever has before to have any hope of succeeding.
“Juju cartwheels between these pages like dust in a sandstorm”
is a quote about the book Sunny is learning from that’s equally applicable to the book itself. Okorafor has a knack of putting simple words together into a story that feels utterly matter-of-fact and utterly magical at the same time. I don’t know how she does it. I bought the new paperback of Akata Witch for my son to read, partly because he is addicted to epic fantasy, partly because he was doing a summer reading challenge trying to read a book set on this continent and middle grade fantasy set in Africa is pretty sparse on the ground here. But I wanted him to read this even without that, because all magical kids here have their powers through something that’s viewed negatively by the outside world – Sunny being albino, and one of the boys through being dyslexic, like my son. (It is ironic, given that, that the books aren’t available on audio, which would have made it much easier for him to read!) The books are perfect for middle school and up, with a fair amount of violence and minimal romance. Don’t miss Nnedi Okorafor’s other books, including Zahrah the Windseeker , Binti, and Binti: Home.
A Crack in the Sea by H.M. Bouwman. Read by Bahni Turpin. Putnam, 2017. 
Does it get much better than dragons and chocolate?
Misadventures of the Family Fletcher by Dana Alison Levy. Delacorte Press, 2014.
Lotterys Plus One by Emma Donoghue. Read by 
Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. Ever. Edited by Betsy Bird. Viking, 2017.
When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore. Thomas Dunne Books, 2016. Once upon a time there was a story about a girl called Honey who fell out of the town water tower and whose hem stayed wet for the rest of her life. Once upon a time, there was a boy who tried to give her the moon… The myth that opens the story gives way to the reality, still quite magical, of Miel, who did fall from the tower and who always has a rose growing out of her wrist. She lives with Aracely, who behaves more like a big sister than a mother. But her friend Sam – short for Samir – lives nearby and is always painting lamps with the moon to hang up around town. They are already dealing with being minorities in a mostly white town, when the Bonner sisters, used to having and discarding whatever they want, decide that they want Miel’s roses. They threaten to reveal all the secrets they’ve found out if she doesn’t cooperate – including that Sam started life as Samira.
Better Nate than Ever by Tim Federle. Simon & Schuster, 2013.
Star-Crossed by Barbara Dee. Simon and Schuster, 2017.
Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead. Read by Kimberly Farr, Meera Simhan and Kirby Heybourne. Random House/Listening Library 2015.
Outrun the Moon by Stacey Lee. Narrated by Emily Woo Zeller. Print from Putnam, 2016. Audio from Tantor Audio. 
The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi. Simon & Schuster Salaam Reads, 2017.
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