Our January roundup of recently released favorites! This incredible panel will feature the authors of four recent Books of Wonder middle grade favorites, and it's a great chance to find a new favorite for you or your young readers! From heart-pounding desert adventures and trips outer space to middle school magic of all kinds, these are four books that shouldn't be missed!

This event will feature MEGAN SHEPHERD for Dog Star, DUSTI BOWLING for Across the Desert, BASSEM YOUSSEF for Middle School Mischief: The Magical Reality of Nadia #2, and GORDON KORMAN for Operation Do-Over.

Saturday, January 22nd at 3:00pm via Crowcast!

BOOK DETAILS!

• Dog Star takes readers back to 1957, as the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union heats up. The Soviets are determined to be the first to send a living creature into orbit - and they choose Laika, a young stray dog taken in off the streets of Moscow. A young girl named Nina, whose father works on the space program, befriends Laika - becoming more and more invested in her wellbeing. And the more invested Nina becomes, the more she begins to question the answers she's always been told - like about why her best friend Ludmilla's family wanted to defect to the United States. When Nina learns that the space mission might not end well for Laika, she realizes that it's time for her to make a choice. Poignant and lovely, Dog Star is a wonderful story for all young readers who love dogs, space, or history. 

• In Across the Desert, a 12-year old girl in Arizona embarks on a desperate rescue mission after witnessing a life-threatening accident. You see, ever since the car accident, Jolene's mom has spiraled deeper and deeper into opioid addiction. The kids at school bully Jolene, and all she wants to do is study maps, bide her time, and someday get out of Phoenix and see the world. She spends every day she can at the library watching her favorite livestream: The Desert Aviator, where twelve-year-old “Addie Earhart” shares her adventures flying an ultralight plane over the desert. But during one livestream, Addie’s ultralight crashes - and Jolene's the only one who's watching. With no one to turn to for help and armed with only a hand-drawn map and a stolen cell phone, it's up to Jolene to find a way to save the Desert Aviator.

• Nadia and her magical life are back in Middle School Mischief: The Magical Reality of Nadia #2! After freeing Titi - a hilarious ancient Egyptian schoolteacher - from her hippo amulet last fall, Nadia is pretty ready for a normal year of writing kick-butt school newspaper articles and trying to survive middle school. But then Nadia and Titi discover that the hippo amulet holds a second secret, one that’s super powerful—and super scary. Too bad Titi has no idea how to stop it. Looks like Nadia's on the case! And hey, if she can save the world from a a mysterious ancient amulet, the rest of middle school should come pretty easy. Right?

• Have you ever wished you could turn back time to a single moment? Some single moment when you know that everything went wrong? High school senior Mason sure does. Back in 7th grade, he was best friends with Ty, the very best of friends, like two nerdy sides of the same coin. But then Mason went and kissed Ava Petrakis, even though he knew Ty liked her, and now Mason feels like he can trace everything bad in his life to that terrible fight he and Ty had afterwards. Too bad do-overs are impossible. But when Mason gets into a freak accident, he finds himself magically transported back to 7th grade - back to a time when his beloved dog was alive, his parents were together, and Ty was still his friend. Can Mason keep his life from imploding a second time around? Operation Do-Over is a fast-paced, fantastic story about the choices we make and how they affect the people we love - and what could happen if we tried to do it all over again. 

For all Books of Wonder events, we expect all participants to maintain a family friendly atmosphere, inclusive of respect and fairness. Anyone who violates this standard of behavior, including engaging in any form of harassment, inappropriate language, or disruptive conduct, will, at our discretion, be immediately removed.