23 Stellar Offerings, Including New Books From Carole Boston Weatherford and Sophie Blackall | Starred Reviews, August 2025

by SLJ Reviews
Aug 04, 2025 | Filed in News & Features

This month brings starred titles in gaming books, professional reading, and more.

Family Feast! (Weatherford) © by Frank Morrison.
Family Feast! (Weatherford) © by Frank Morrison.

 

Picture Books

BLACKALL, Sophie. If We Were Dogs. Little, Brown. 

FINE, Bex Tobin. Floor It! illus. by Federico Fabiani. Random. 

HARE, John. Field Trip to Dinosaur Valley. Holiday House/Margaret Ferguson. 

HENN, Sophy. I Hate Everything! S.& S./Beach Lane. 

RIM, Sujean. My Dog Smudge. Atheneum/Caitlin Dlouhy. 

SCANLON, Liz Garton & Audrey Vernick. The Family Tree. illus. by Fiona Lee. S. & S./Beach Lane. 

TEBO, Mary. Sparrow. illus. by E.B. Lewis. Astra.

WALLACE, Gwendolyn. Dancing with Water. illus. by Tonya Engel. Penguin/Kokila.

WEATHERFORD, Carole Boston. Family Feast! illus. by Frank Morrison. Crown. 

 

Middle Grade

Grehan, Meg. The Brightest Star. Little Island.

Stevenson, ND. Scarlet Morning. HarperCollins/Quill Tree.

 

YA

Sutherland, Joel A. The Whisperings. Tundra. 

 

Graphic Novels

Glendining, Bex. On Starlit Shores. Abrams/Fanfare.

Leon, Pablo. Silenced Voices: Reclaiming Memories from the Guatemalan Genocide. HarperAlley. 

 

The Spy in the Museum: How Rose Valland Saved Art from the ­Nazis (McGuire) © by Erin McGuire
The Spy in the Museum: How Rose Valland Saved Art from the ­Nazis (McGuire) © by Erin McGuire

 

Nonfiction

BARRETTA, Gene. The Apprenticeship of Andrew Wyeth: Painting a Family Legacy. Little, Brown/Christy Ottaviano. 

Carnagey, Melissa Pintor. Growing into You! An Inclusive, Shame-Busting, Get-Real Guide to Your Changing Body and Mind. illus. by Brianna Gilmartin. Quirk. 

Guojing. The House That Floated. Random House Studio. 

MCGUIRE, Erin. The Spy in the Museum: How Rose Valland Saved Art from the Nazis. S. & S./Beach Lane. 

Santana, Raymond. Pushing Hope: An Illustrated Memoir of Survival. illus. by Keith Henry Brown.Astra/Calkins Creek. 

 

Root: The Roleplaying Game Core Book ©2022 Magpie
Root: The Roleplaying Game Core Book ©2022 Magpie

 

Gaming

Root: The Roleplaying Game Core Book. Magpie Games. 

 

Professional Reading

García, Marilisa Jiménez & Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez, eds. Ethnic Studies and Youth Literature: A Critical Reader. SUNY Pr. 

Rodari, Gianni. The Grammar of Fantasy: An Introduction to the Art of Inventing Stories. tr. from Italian by Jack Zipes. illus. by Matthew Forsythe. Enchanted Lion. 

Struckmeyer, Amanda Moss. Inspiring Teens, Tweens, and Families to Make a Difference in the World: Programming to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals. ALA Eds. 

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