Sunshine State Young Readers

Printable List

The Bug Bandits by Jenni L. Walsh
Liberty Jacobs feels right at home at the Insectarium her father runs. When she hears it might close, she comes up with an idea to help save it. But that idea is put on hold when she learns someone is planning to rob it to steal the rarest creatures. Getting inspiration from the movie Home Alone and the natural defenses insects use, Liberty and her friends set out to stop the bug bandits.

Curveball by Pablo Cartaya
Can a knee injury turn her whole life around when life throws a curveball at Elena Rueda. Even though she may be able to return to the sport eventually, Elena finds joy in activities that don’t have winners like joining her brother, Benji, in live action role playing. Friendship and fun become number one in this character driven graphic novel.

Forever Ripley by McCall Hoyle
Join Ripley the German Shepard as she takes readers on a journey fulfilling her handler’s Max last wishes, “take care of my girls”. Ripley has guarded Charlie, the girl she loves more than peanut butter, but now her time is running short. A sweet reminder that friendships and making memories can help us through even the hardest times.

Growing Home by Beth Ferry
Jillian and her family live at Number 3 Ramshorn Drive along with their only pet, Toasty, the goldfish. Toasty lives in an octagonal tank and doesn’t understand why Jillian is so obsessed with an Ivy plant. The tank has been in their family for generations but it holds a secret. This magical tank helps bring together our cast of characters and helps us learn the true meaning of friendship.

The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes
Nine is an orphan who has been forced into a life of pickpocketing. Her world changes when she steals a small, house-shaped ornament from a lady at the market. When nine knocks on the door of the ornament, it grows into a large house full of magic, mysteries, and a curse that only she can break. Can Nine save this house from the curse before the clock strikes 15 and time runs out?

J vs. K by Kwame Alexander and Jerry Craft
Rival 5th grade students J and K enter their school’s annual Creative Storytelling Competition, and are both determined to win. J is a talented artist who prides himself in telling stories without words, while K is a writer known as “The Word Wizard”. An epic rivalry ensues! If they want a chance at winning the coveted award. They might even have to work with their greatest enemies- each other!

The Last Resort by Erin Entrada Kelly
Lila’s summer goal to stop being so “dramatic” gets interrupted when her estranged Grandpa Clem dies. On the way to Grandpa Clem’s creepy Victorian Inn, Lila has a near death experience and now she can see ghosts. Things get more bizarre when Grandpa Clem’s ghost reveals his death did not come naturally. Can Lila convince her brother and a new friend that she is NOT being dramatic when she says she needs to save the world from vengeful evil spirits?

The Lion of Lark-Hayes Manor by Aubrey Hartman
Poppy Woodcock believes in magic. When her family moves to renovate an old abandoned manor she ends up feeling invisible. That all changes when she encounters a magical water nymph and makes a deal, trading her favorite book for a flying lion cub. But the nymph tricked her and now all her beloved books are disappearing, taking their magic with them. Now Poppy must find a way to fix everything, protect the things she loves, and learn to be brave.

Misfit Mansion by Kay Davault
Wanting to belong, Iris longs for a family. Unfortunately, the former paranormal investigator, Mr. Holloway, has her and her friends trapped in a “foster home of horrors” and refuses to release them! Luckily a human boy, Mathias, comes to the rescue and helps to set them free. But is Mathias really who he seems to be and what is the dark secret Mr. Halloway has locked in the basement?

Punycorn by Andi Watson
When the horrid Sir Ogre unleashes his evil army on the kingdom of Carbuncle, who will come to their rescue? The Chosen Ones, an elite troop of heroic unicorns, are out of town, so it is up to Punycorn to step in. The clumsiest and puniest of all unicorns, along with a fireless dragon, a dung beetle, and a magic sword with a secret will have to save the day!

Queen of the Sea by Reese Eschmann
All Aboard! Caitlin is about to set sail for six weeks on The Wandering Princess when her dad takes a job on the cruise ship. Join her, her brother, and her pet bearded dragon on the adventure of a lifetime on the biggest ship she’s ever seen. But will it all be smooth sailing on this unexpected journey?

Reasons to Look at the Night Sky by Danielle Daniel
Eleven-year old Luna wants to be an astronaut and is finally being allowed to apply for NASA space camp. She plans to use a much anticipated project from school to help her clinch her spot, but is thrown for a loop when a substitute teacher is there who blends art with science. Luna’s world is turned upside down, and her hopes and dreams seem to be drifting off to outer space.

The Sherlock Society by James Ponti
Alex and Zoe Sherlock live in Miami and have decided to start a detective agency to earn money. Joined by their friends Lina and Yadi, they use their grandfather’s old cold case files to get their start. They decide on a case that leads them to the middle of the Everglades in search of Al Capone’s buried treasure. Can the Sherlock Society solves finally solve the mystery and recover the treasure?

Swimming with Spies by Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger
Based on the true events of the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Sofiya and her family run a dolphinarium and train dolphins to be used in therapy. As the conflict escalates, the Russian military seizes the facility to train the dolphins for war. Sofiya will do anything to save pod. Will she and her friends be able to devise a plan to rescue and move the dolphins to a safe location in Odesa?

Wrath of the Rain God by Karla Arenas Valenti
Twins Martín and Emma cannot agree on much except they are not looking forward to leaving their friends and family in their home town of Cuernavaca, Mexico to go to Chicago for their dad to take his dream job. Magical gifts from their Abuela turn the move into a wild trip filled with dangerous otherworld adventures where they try to save a village from an angry rain god.

Printable List

Bye Forever, I Guess by Jodi Meadows
Ingrid’s been living a double life. At school, she’s her popular friend Rachel’s charity case. Online, things are different: she crushes it in her favorite MMORPG and runs a popular social media account. But when Ingrid finally stands up to Rachel, it suddenly feels like she has no life at all. Until she gets a wrong-number text from a mystery boy at her school, and everything starts to go right. Playing online with him makes her feel like she’s really connecting with someone. But when she begins to suspect that the mystery boy may be a popular classmate who is WAY above her in the cool-kid food chain—and whose original text was actually intended for Rachel—she faces a difficult choice. Can they be friends IRL?

Dog Trouble by Kristin Varner
Ash is a good kid at heart. But his grades are slipping, and when he gets caught vandalizing an old building, it’s the last straw. It’s decided: Ash will spend some time away from the city, at his dad’s place on Ferncliff Island. That's bad enough, but his parents are also making him do community service at the local animal shelter! Ash isn't a dog person, but as he bonds with the pups at the shelter, especially Cooper, a clever, fun-loving pointer that gives sloppy kisses―he starts to see that maybe his time on Ferncliff Island isn’t a total loss.

I.R.L by Jenny Goebel
Not every kid would be thrilled to move to rural Alaska, but sixth grader Lucy is eager to leave her bullies behind and start over. However, it turns out that Lucy's new school does remote learning from October to April, when the roads become too icy to navigate safely. Being the new kid is hard enough -- how is she going to make friends when she can't meet anyone in person? Luckily, the sixth grade class is tiny (just thirteen students) and they're all super nice and really welcoming. As the ice starts to thaw, Lucy grows excited about finally meeting her new friends in person. But when she arrives at her new school, Lucy doesn’t know what to believe. Are her new “friends” pulling an elaborate prank? Or is truth far, far more horrifying?

The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen
Keep your eyes down and your feet moving, or this planet will rust you. That’s what Lunar Jones tells the other kids at the relocation clinic. All of them were born on Mars, a planet that never wanted people in the first place. With resources scarce and hope even scarcer, it’s easy to get distracted looking up. After all, their ancestors descended from the stars. Lunar knows all the old stories about dragons and space, but no one up there’s planning to help him or his crew. Instead, he focuses on scrapping valuable gear that the storms uncover in the war zone. Until one day, a salvaging run goes wrong. Desperate to find shelter, Lunar goes underground in a restricted zone. What he finds there, buried in the Martian dust, might just be the only hope left for a dying planet.

The Legend of the Last Library by Frank L. Cole
After a devastating Blight killed off all the trees, paper is worth more than just about anything. Juni's parents died when she was young, so now it's just her and Grandpa Edgar. When she's not in school, Juni and her friends Doler and Quaze turn to plifting— scavenging for any paper they can find. If Juni can find enough paper, she can pay for the health care Grandpa needs. So when Juni discovers a book—the first one she's ever seen—hidden in a box in her grandpa's closet, she's both surprised and elated thinking of the money she could get for it. That all changes when she decides to read the book. Beyond opening her imagination, the book contains clues that point to what could be the last library on Earth. If reading one book could change Juni's life, what would access to thousands—or millions—of books do?

The Myth of Monsters: Medusa by Katherine Marsh
Ava Baldwin has always tried to keep her anger in check, just like her mom taught her. But when know-it-all classmate Owen King tries to speak over her yet again, Ava explodes . . . and Owen freezes, becoming totally unresponsive. Although Owen recovers, Ava's parents whisk her off to her mother’s alma mater, the Accademia del Forte, a mysterious magical boarding school in Venice, Italy. But not everything at the Accademia is as it seems. After her friend Fia is almost expelled for challenging a teacher, Ava realizes the school is hiding a dangerous secret. To uncover the truth, Ava and her new friends embark on an adventure that could change the way they view history, ancient mythology—and themselves—forever…or end their lives.

The No Brainer’s Guide to Decomposition by Adrianna Cuevas
Bodies buried in her backyard doesn’t exactly make Frani Gonzalez the most popular kid in school, and the imaginary spider that lives in a web in her brain isn’t helping either. Arañita’s always to blame for the distracted thoughts weaving through Frani’s mind. But when a hand reaches out of the ground and grabs her ankle, Frani realizes that she’s got bigger problems. Not everything is as it seems at the body farm, and now Frani must help the zombie that crawled out of the dirt…before he gets too hungry. But as more and more zombies begin to appear—and they seem to get less and less friendly—can Frani embrace the true nature of her brain and count on new friendships to solve the body farm's mystery before it's overrun with the undead?

On Thin Ice by Jessica Kim
Twelve-year-old fraternal twins Phoebe and Dexter Bae are polar opposites in every way except for their love of the ice. Phoebe is hyper focused on pairs figure skating, and Dex loves his hockey team. But when Phoebe’s partner injures his knee just two months before competitions and Dex gets cut from his team in favor of a new hotshot goalie from Canada, they’re both left spinning. With their skating dreams dashed, their mother suggests that Dex fill in as Phoebe’s doubles partner. It’s a hard sell—the twins haven’t been close since their father passed away two years ago. Can these siblings skate past their differences toward victory?

Plain Jane and the Mermaid by Vera Brosgol
Jane is incredibly plain. Everyone says so: her parents, the villagers, and her horrible cousin who kicks her out of her own house. Determined to get some semblance of independence, Jane prepares to propose to the princely Peter. It’s a good plan! Or it would’ve been, if he wasn’t kidnapped by a mermaid. Jane must venture underwater to rescue her maybe-fiancé. But the depths of the ocean hold beautiful mysteries and dangerous creatures. What good can a plain Jane do?

Secrets of the Broken House by Taryn Souders
In the small, southern town of Everson, goats can run for mayor, the mail is always late, and nothing all that bad ever happens. That is, until thirteen-year-old Tucker finds Miss Geraldine dead at the bottom of her stairs. At first glance, it looks like an accident. But Tucker has always had a knack for noticing details that others overlook, and the details surrounding Miss Geraldine's death just aren't adding up. Miss Geraldine was miserable and mean. Miss Geraldine was murdered. The whole town seems to have reason to want her dead, which makes Tucker's search for the truth nearly impossible. Anyone could be the killer, and in a small town that loves to gossip, if Tucker isn't careful, he could be the next one to have an "accident".

The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko
When eleven-year-old Hank’s mom doesn’t come home, he takes care of his toddler sister, Boo, like he always does. But it’s been a week now. They are out of food and mom has never stayed away this long… Hank knows he needs help, so he and Boo seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact. But asking for help has consequences. It means social workers, and a new school, and having to answer questions about his mom that he's been trying to keep secret. And if they can't find his mom soon, Hank and Boo may end up in different foster homes--he could lose everything.

The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner
Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn is about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines . . . until now. Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he's in big trouble for knocking down some dead old lady's headstone. Turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual offer: she'll drop all the charges if he agrees to climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks in a single summer. And there's just one more thing--he has to bring along the dead woman's dog.

Valor Wings by Sam Subity
May 10, 1940: Everyone in Iris's small English village avoids the dragon in the woods. Everyone, that is, except for Iris. When Galahad the dragon is accused of stealing military rations, Iris strikes a bargain that will spare Galahad's life... but send him off to the war brewing in Europe. Soon after, she receives news that her brother is among the troops trapped in France by the advancing German troops. Refusing to give up hope, Iris devises a desperate plan that will either save both her brother and her best friend--or end in disaster. Meanwhile in Belgium, Max's school day is abruptly interrupted by some terrifying news: The Germans have invaded his country. Across hundreds of miles, the stories of Iris and Max steadily converge toward an explosive conclusion that will change them both forever.

Very Bad at Math by Hope Larson
Verity “Very” Nelson can do it all. She’s student body president, debate club whiz, and first chair clarinetist. You could say she’s pretty much the best at everything…Well, almost everything. Everything except math. And it’s not like she doesn’t try. Math just doesn’t make sense in her brain. But it better start soon, or else she can kiss her presidency—and her campaign promises— goodbye. Soon Verity finds herself enrolled in a remedial math class where, despite her best efforts, failure persists. All seems lost until a teacher helps her discover the truth: Verity has dyscalculia, a learning disability that causes her to mix up numbers. Armed with a new diagnosis and improved grades, Verity is confident her math struggles will remain secret. But when a gossipy podcaster dismantles her perfect image, Verity must choose: remain part of a broken system or fight to fix it.

Will’s Race for Home by Jewell Parker Rhodes
It’s 1889, barely twenty-five years after the Emancipation Proclamation, and a young Black family is tired of working on land they don’t get to own. So when Will and his father hear about an upcoming land rush, they set out on a journey from Texas to Oklahoma, racing thousands of others to the place where land is free—if they can get to it fast enough. But the journey isn’t easy—the terrain is rough, the bandits are brutal, and every interaction carries a heavy undercurrent of danger. And then there’s the stranger they encounter and befriend: a mysterious soldier named Caesar, whose Union emblem brings more attention—and more trouble—than any of them need. All three are propelled by the promise of something long denied to them: freedom, land ownership, and a place to call home—but is a strong will enough to get them there?