The Winter King by Christine Cohen. Cannonball Books, 2019. 360 pages. Reading Level: Young adult/teen, ages 12 and up Recommend For: Ages 12 and up The annual feast for the Winter King is looming. Cora Nikolson and her mother (head cook in High Aldorman Fyodor’s kitchen) are working themselves to the bone to prepare. Their family is reputedly under a curse; if Cora’s mother loses this job, the family will starve. As it is, they’re barely surviving. Desperate to help her family, Cora hatches a bold plan: she’ll insinuate herself into Nils’s good graces in order to gain more work hours. Nils, though, is no friend of her family’s. Desperate…

Running Wild gives readers ages 6-10 new appreciation for the immense variety and careful design evidenced in animal motion. Running Wild: Awesome Animals in Motion by Galadriel Watson, illustrated by Samantha Dixon. Annick Press, 2020, 59 pages. Reading Level: Picture Book, ages 6-8 Recommended for: ages 7-12 Basically, all motion is a physics problem. In organic creatures, the proper term is “biomechanics.” That’s a new word for me, but this picture book packs lots of information I hadn’t considered. Rather than marching through various phyla highlighting their unique manners of motion, the text considers types of motion (such as hopping, swinging, crawling) and chooses examples from across the animal kingdom…

Cubs in the Tub is a warm-hearted true story that will be irresistible to baby animal lovers. Cubs in the Tub: the True Story of the Bronx Zoo’s First Woman Zookeeper by Candace Fleming, illustrations by Julie Downing. Holiday House (Neal Porter Books), 2020, 47 pages including notes. Reading Level: Picture book, ages 4-8 Recommended for: ages 4-7 Helen Martini was a contented homemaker in the Bronx with only one wish: that she and her husband Fred could start a family. In spite of her hopes, no baby arrived. Until Fred came home from his job at the zoo with a lion cub. “Just do for him what you would…

Orphan Eleven combines historical events and a timeless theme to craft an engrossing story of orphans running away to join the circus! Orphan Eleven by Gennifer Chodenko. Random House (Wendy Lamb), 2020, 302 pages including author note. Reading Level: Middle Grades, ages 10-12 Recommended for: ages 10-14 “None of us gets long on this lush and lovely planet. Don’t relinquish any of your precious life to whoever it is who has hurt you.” At eleven years old, Lucy Sauve has seen a lot of hurt. She barely remembers her deceased papa, and then Mama married a man who talked a better game than he played. When Mama contracted TB, Lucy…

What happens when Newbery award winners (and honors) are read aloud by skillful narrators? The books truly come alive. Audiobooks also bring diverse settings and multicultural characters to life. Listening to the books below is a superior experience than merely reading them on your own, particularly if you live in a different place than the main characters. All of the following titles are available via Overdrive. Not all libraries carry the same Overdrive titles, but none of these are “audible exclusives.” They should be relatively easy to track down and are free with your library card–even if your library is closed or you are out of town! *indicates a starred…