Category Archives: 2026 Releases

Some of Us Are Brave by Saadia Faruqi

It’s a humid summer in Houston, Texas, and Yasir is dreaming of being soccer team captain—if only he could get the team bully, Cody, off his back, and maybe impress his sort-of-crush, Mona. Meanwhile, Mona is turning her nightmares into art, and Cody’s home life feels as tense as the storm literally brewing down the coast. When Hurricane Harvey makes landfall, the three kids could hardly be called friends. But as their regular lives fall apart and rising floodwaters pull them together, Mona, Cody, and Yasir will need to work as a team if they want to survive. The… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Classism & racism
  • Parental abandonment, child abuse & domestic violence
  • Night terrors
  • Parent with anger management issues after being injured during military service
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Death of a grandmother mentioned
  • Hurricane Harvey & floods (theme)
  • Near-drowning incident recounted
  • Bullying

The Lions’ Run by Sara Pennypacker

Petit éclair. That’s what the other boys at the orphanage call Lucas DuBois. Lucas is tired of his cowardly reputation, just as he’s tired of the war and the Nazi occupation of his French village. He longs to show how brave he can be. He gets the chance when he saves a litter of kittens from cruel boys and brings them to an abandoned stable to care for them. There he comes upon a stranger who is none too happy to see Alice, the daughter of a horse trainer, who is hiding her filly from German soldiers. Soon Lucas begins to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Discussions of Lebensborn hospitals (where unmarried pregnant women were forced to adopt out their children as part of a Nazi-German eugenics program)
  • Death of parents recounted
  • World War II (theme)
  • Bullying
  • Animal cruelty & death mentioned (bullies attempt to drowning a litter of kittens but the protagonist is able to save the majority of them)

All in Her Hands by Audrey Blake

Dr. Nora Gibson is the only female surgeon in London. In all of England, even. After earning her medical degree and overcoming the prejudice of those who wished to see her fail, she’s finally earned her place at the Great Queen Street Hospital alongside her newlywed husband and her eccentric but ailing adoptive father, the great Dr. Horace Croft. But peace is hard to come by as a physician, and for one like Nora, it’s almost impossible. When Nora takes up the fight to bring midwives into the medical field, her already fragile reputa… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny
  • Physical injury & illness and medical treatment (theme), including a cholera outbreak
  • Unplanned pregnancy (protagonist)

I Could Give You the Moon by Ann Liang

Everyone loves Chanel Cao—except Ares Yin. While Chanel has spent her entire life curating a picture-perfect social media personality—from her body to her hair to her camera-ready smile—Ares has spent his trying to hide in the shadows. But Ares’s brother is missing, and Chanel’s parents have secretly separated, and their only hope is each other. Ares is willing to do whatever it takes to find his brother, and Chanel will do anything to keep her parents’ secret. When the two meet and share a vision of the future—where Ares’s brother appears, as Chanel’s house burns… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Physical assault (street fighting)
  • Kidnapping of a child
  • Arson

Deep Secrets by Nikki Shannon Smith

Colette only wants three to prove she isn’t weak, to get a job, and to uncover the mystery surrounding her father. All her life she’s heard that he died in a factory accident, but she’s haunted by dreams of bitter cold and a sea of stars—and part of her knows it’s somehow connected to him. Colette is not to work, is not to leave the house, and is to never speak of her father. But when Colette secretly gets a job, she becomes fascinated by the stories that Walter, the store owner, tells. He was aboard the Titanic before it sank. He saw… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical racism discussed
  • Death of a father in a factory accident
  • Death of a brother in the Titanic tragedy (secondary character)
  • Poverty & financial difficulties during the Great Depression

I Know You Started It by Daphne Benedis-Grab

There’s a fire in a seventh grader’s locker! Is it arson? A prank gone wrong? An accident? Eva, Dani, Liam, and Gabe are determined to figure out who started the fire, and why. And they each have their own reasons for wanting to be the first ones to figure out what really happened. While the administration is looking into it, evidence is scarce. It will take four students who can tap into the rumors, gossip, and hidden secrets of their school to uncover what really went on the day of the fire. And if they don’t figure it out in time? Well, one of them could be accused of the crime. But… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fire (theme)
  • Bullying & cyberbullying
  • Blackmail

A Secret Escape by Alyson Gerber

The game starts now. Jack and Weatherby—the newest members of Last Heir, the most powerful secret society in the world—have landed at an exclusive prep school in the Swiss Alps, ready to win big. Last Heir is offering the chance of a lifetime: millions of dollars, a private island, and a powerful spot in the society’s inner circle. Not everyone has the same reasons for playing, but with money, power, and influence up for grabs, everyone wants to win. Too bad they’re not all playing by the same rules.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Death of a parent
  • Kidnapping & captivity

Phoenix by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Harper’s life just exploded. Her parents are getting a divorce. And she suspects her best friend, Cat, may have known the reason for it long before she did. Now Harper and her mom are starting over in a cramped house, in a new town, where everything feels unfamiliar, including the riding barn next door. There, Harper watches the kids she avoids at her new school take lessons. Harper’s never been around horses before. And no, she does not want to learn to ride. Then with no warning, a truck dumps a starved and neglected horse right in Harper’s yard. She has no idea… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Parental divorce discussed (theme)
  • Bullying
  • Animal death (chickens)

Each and Every Spark by Claire Swinarski

Paris, present day. Penny Marks has never felt so alone. Forced to move to France for some fancy job her mom couldn’t turn down, she’s now miles away from her old life. If she hadn’t quit art after all that drama went down last year, she’d at least have something to keep her mind off the fact that life back home is moving on without her. Paris, 1943. Marie Bonnet has never felt so afraid. When the German army seized power over France, she and her sister Heloise watched their father get taken away, leaving them on their own. Then Marie finds evidence that Heloise has secret… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Protagonist with memory loss
  • Sibling with long-term illness leading to hearing loss
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • World War I (theme), including period-typical food scarcity

Hail Mariam by Huda Al-Marashi

Iraqi American Mariam Hassan transfers to a local Catholic school and before her first day her parents remind her that she might be the first Muslim her classmates have ever met. No big deal, right? Just represent an entire religion while making new friends, keeping up with schoolwork, and figuring out who she is. When Mariam’s younger sister, Salma, is diagnosed with a serious lung condition, her family faces endless doctor visits and sleepless nights. Mariam tries to lighten their burden and keep her own problems to herself—including the fact that she’s just… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sibling hospitalised for cancer treatment
  • Minor blood depiction