19 Exceptional Titles, Including the Graphic Novel Adaptation of 'Tuck Everlasting' | Starred Reviews, July 2025

by SLJ Reviews
Jul 16, 2025 | Filed in News & Features

This month, a poetry collection by Margarita Engle, a new middle grade novel from Dan Gemeinhart, and a nonfiction title about the Erie Canal stand out, along with other great books.

 

 

Board Books

Heuer, Lourdes. The Hardware Store/La ferretería. illus. by Zara González Hoang. Candlewick. 

Otter, Isabel. How It Works: Tree. illus. by David Semple. Tiger Tales. 

Paquette, Ammi-Joan. My Mouth Says. illus. by Sabrena Khadija. Penguin Workshop/Rise X. 

Scanlon, Liz Garton. Big Little Baby. illus. by Trudy Tran. Penguin Workshop/Rise X. 

Uslan, Nancy E. Walk with Me: A Counting Adventure. Farrar. 

 

Picture Books

Birdsong, Bea. How to Grow a Family Tree. illus. by Jasu Hu. Holiday House/Neal Porter. 

 

Middle Grade

Birdsall, Jeanne. The Library of Unruly Treasures. illus. by Matt Phelan. Knopf. 

Gemeinhart, Dan. Busted. Holt. 

 

YA

Newbould, Cassandra. Climate of Chaos. Peachtree Teen. 

Nijkamp, Marieke. After We Burned. Sourcebooks/Fire. 

 

Graphic Novels

Babbitt, Natalie. Tuck Everlasting: The Graphic Novel. adapted by K. Woodman-Maynard. illus. by K. Woodman-Maynard. 

O’Connor,Tara. Cry Out Loud. Random House Graphic. 

Tamaki, Mariko. This Place Kills Me. illus. by Nicole Goux. Abrams/Fanfare. 

Ukazu, Ngozi. Flip. First Second. 

 

Nonfiction

Bausum, Ann. White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History. Roaring Brook. 

Lawlor, Laurie. Many Voices: Building Erie, The Canal That Changed America. Holiday House. 

Rivera, Zayda. Being Bruja: A Young Mystic’s Guide. illus. by Jennifer Dahbura. Running Pr. 

 

Poetry

Engle, Margarita. Hopeful Heroes. illus. by Juliet Menéndez. Holt/Godwin. 

Todd, Traci N., sel. This Is Not a Small Voice: Poems by Black Poets. illus. by Jade Orlando. Nosy Crow. 

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