With summer vacation in the books and the 2024–2025 school year beginning, teachers and librarians are raring to go with new lessons, updated spaces, and plenty of books to recommend. Whether these titles are new this year—from the sea of ARCs given away at ALA in San Diego—or recent favorites, they’re ready to make their way into the hands and hearts of readers. We spoke with three educators about their top selections and why sharing new books will make all the difference in their students’ reading lives.
Angie Manfredi is a writer and editor of The Other F Word: A Celebration of the Fat and Fierce, as well as a teacher librarian at the Los Alamos Middle School in Los Alamos, N.Mex. She calls herself “the Hype Woman” for books, often wears a “Zero Chill About Books” t-shirt, and pushes a purple “Dolly Carton” book cart (named in honor of her idol, Dolly Parton) to get kids excited about reading. A few other ways she does this is by keeping on top of the latest books, closely collaborating with teachers on lessons and book choices, and offering reading electives. “We nurture the love of reading recreationally. My goal is to change perceptions and feelings around reading for those who don’t like to read.”
Her top new books for these kinds of readers include the debut middle grade novel Lola Reyes Is So Not Worried by Cindy L. Rodriquez (HarperCollins, Sept. 17). “I’m always looking for Latinx representation and love the book’s mix of fantasy and real-life middle grade stressors.”
Rodriquez’s story is about a Guatemalan American girl named Lola who returns to the U.S. from a vacation with something extra. “She brings back her father’s worry dolls and they help... until they come to life,” Manfredi said. “Her tracking down of the dolls parallels her own tracking down and dealing with her worries.”
Manfredi hopes to encourage teachers and students to research the origins and use of worry dolls, to tie in the study of New Mexico, and plans to contact the International Folk Art Museum for other extensions.
Her second book pick is On a Wing and a Tear by Cynthia Leitich Smith (Heartdrum, Sept. 17). “It features a road trip filled with mystery, history, sports, our animal relatives, and more,” Manfredi said. “I like that it spotlights Indigenous voices and experiences, and has a lot of cross-curricular and inter-generational ties, and positive family interactions.”
Her third choice, Black Girl Power (Freedom Fire, Nov. 12) is a collection of poems and short stories edited by Leah Johnson. “This particular anthology has a wide variety of genres and authors for my students to sample—and hopefully to explore more of its authors,” Manfredi said. Contributors include Sharon Flake, Ibi Zoboi, Sharon M. Draper, and Leah Johnson.
She’s found that it can be intimidating for some students to read a whole book or to write their own stories. Manfredi believes that the anthology’s selections can help them to do both. “You can go through the arc of the story—understanding the plot beats—in a short time,” Manfredi said. “It’s rewarding while still [helping to] focus on those skills.”
Posted on the library cart named after her idol Dolly Parton are Parton’s words: “Find out who you are, and do it on purpose!” Manfredi models enthusiasm for books and a love of reading, learning, and libraries throughout her school.
“I want my kids to think of reading, the library, and me, everywhere—not just in the library, but in health, gym class, art, social studies, and science,” Manfredi said, “because the library and reading is everywhere—and the key to education. This will give my students a fuller idea of the power of reading, of what a library is, and what a librarian can do!”
Josie Schneider is a youth services librarian at the Central Library in Kansas City, Mo., the current co-chair of the Early and Family Literacy Committee for ALSC, and a 2024 Geisel Award Committee member. She also serves the neighboring charter school, Crossroads Academy, with two elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school that use the public library as their school library.
Schneider’s public/school library roles keep her hands full year-round with double the storytimes, book/genre talks, displays, book lists, programs, reader advisory services, and books. Three of the new titles she can’t wait to share are picture books.
The first is My Daddy Is a Cowboy by Stephanie Seals, illustrated by CG Esperanza (Abrams, out now) which she discovered at ALA. “It’s a sweet story about an Afro-Latina girl who goes on an early morning horse ride with her dad through their neighborhood,” she said.
Schneider was struck by the book’s vibrant colors, life-like facial expressions, the juxtaposition of an urban setting with the rural activity of horseback riding, and its family feels. “It’s a joyful portrayal of the bond that forms between caregivers and their children when they make an effort to spend quality time together,” Schneider said.
She’ll be using it for storytimes, a “Dial a Story” selection, where readers can call in to hear a recording of a librarian reading the story, and a family celebration. “I thought it might be fun to have kids and their caregivers share special memories of the things they like to do together in words and pictures,” Schneider said.
Her second and third picks are silly animal tales with interesting spins. Caboose by Travis Jonker, illustrated by Ruth Chan (Abrams, Feb. 2025), is about a hippo who loves being line leader at school, but ends up being sent to the back of the line to become… the caboose. “I think kids are really going to respond to the story’s dilemma—and the solution,” Schneider said. “Being the line leader’s huge with kids.” She’s planning a few rounds of “Follow the Leader” to tie-in movement with listening, and to extend the story.
This Book Can Read Your Mind by author-illustrator Mariana Copo is about a hare that claims it can read the reader’s mind. By asking the reader to choose one of the characters in the book and then directing them to a specific page, “Eventually, the bunny will indeed read their minds!” Schneider said. “Kids are going to pore over this book until they figure it out!”
Schneider finds magic in intentionally choosing new books for students. ”There have been so many good, diverse books published with new ideas and perspectives. New books have more mirrors and windows.”
Christopher Stewart is a librarian in the District of Columbia’s Public Schools at the Columbia Heights Education Campus, as well as a teacher, preacher, and a debut children’s author. Referred to by his students as the “Peace and Love Librarian,” he is always looking for books that allow his diverse population of students to feel seen—and to see others, too. “I want my students to see that we are all different, but that these differences are beautiful, and for them to say, ‘I want to know more about you!’ ” Stewart said.
The first of the three new books Stewart is especially excited to share with his students and teachers is Poetry Hood: Our Black Revival: History, Folklore & the Black Experience: A Young Adult Poetry Anthology (HarperCollins, out now). Stewart especially likes the anthology’s variety of poems, topics, authors, and writing styles for his reluctant and/or struggling readers. “We might do a Book Brunch discussion or even a Socratic Seminar [a formal discussion on a text with open-ended questions to help students read widely and deeply] on the street, and invite people to be part of our literary sit-in,” Stewart said of the teaching possibilities it offers.
He also plans to invite his students to respond to the poetry by writing peer reviews, setting poems to music, performing theatrical productions, or creating their own poetry. In addition, Stewart hopes to collaborate with other educators across content areas and grade levels. “This will allow us to dig deep into the poetry: to let it bleed, and allow each of us to see and to celebrate the Black struggle and joy.”
Stewart’s second book choice is one he read about in PW: Everything I Learned About Racism I Learned in School by Tiffany Jewell (HarperCollins, out now). A fan of Jewell’s other books on anti-bias and anti-racism, Stewart believes that this title will greatly interest his students and encourage critical conversations. “Our kids talk about racism and think about it a lot of the time,” he said. “The library’s a hub where they can have these conversations because it’s a safe space, and they can speak with me.”
Stewart also envisions students writing letters to express their concerns and call out inequities that they see in school, their community, and beyond. “This will help them use their voices to speak out about real things that they and others are experiencing in their daily lives.”
His third recommendation is Brownstone by Samuel Teer, illustrated by Mar Julia, (HarperCollins, out now). It’s a story about a girl who must stay the entire summer with her Guatemalan father, whom she’s never met before, and who speaks rapid-fire Spanish. Together they work on fixing up his brownstone in his Latinx community. “I love this title because it deals with a young girl finding herself, building a new relationship with her father, and connecting with the community. It’s a love expansion story.”
Stewart believes that this title and others with diverse representations and narratives will expand his students’ abilities to share, to care, and to stand up for themselves and others. “By exposing them to these types of stories, we can captivate their hearts and minds, and help prepare them to be global and empathetic leaders!”
