Happy Summer!
We here at YA Books Central are looking to help you keep cool. We’ve teamed up with wonderful publishers to organize a great giveaway to make it happen!
Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. – Jenny Han
Title: ALICE PIPER SPEAKS UP
Author: Sage Andrew Romero and Loralee Sepsey
Publisher: Heyday Books
Release Date: 6/2/26
Volume 3 in the acclaimed Fighting for Justice Series for young readers: the story of a Native teenager’s history-making fight for equal education.
Alice Piper just wanted to go to public school. The year was 1923, and Alice, a Native Paiute (Nuwuvi) teenager in California, dreamed about learning from teachers, making new friends, and being respected for who she was. So when the school board refused to let her and six other Native students attend, she decided to speak up, and she sued for her right to an equal education. Alice Piper Speaks Up, the first book dedicated to this major champion of civil rights, features new research into Alice’s life and court case. Each chapter begins with lyrical verse and full-color illustrations that invite readers into Alice’s story. Paired with the poems are visually engaging sections filled with keyword definitions, historical context, timelines, primary sources, and questions that help readers relate Alice’s experience to their own lives. The text connects Alice’s case to larger themes about education, Native rights, and movements for school desegregation across the United States. The third book in Heyday’s widely acclaimed Fighting for Justice series, Alice Piper Speaks Up shows how one teen’s action resonates throughout America’s history, even now.
Title: Ask the Doctor
Author: Betty Choi, M.D.
Publisher: Storey Publishing
Release Date: 8/4/26
From boogers to bruises, real-life pediatrician Betty Choi answers curious kids’ questions about the weird and amazing ways our bodies work.
What do the colors of my boogers mean when I have a cold? If I hold my pee too long, could my bladder explode? Why do bruises change color? Kids have so many pressing questions about the stuff their bodies do and what happens when they’re sick. Pediatrician Betty Choi gives honest answers to 53 curious questions in this kid-friendly Q&A, with easy-to-follow, fun comics by illustrator Jannie Ho. Topics range from “Grub, Guts, and Glorious Waste” to “Silly Senses” and “Coughs, Colds, and Conundrums.” In the process, Dr. Choi shows kids how amazing and resilient their bodies really are and that doctors are here to help.
Readers will:
- Engage with quirky and colorful comic illustrations
- Explore the major systems of the body in a fun Q&A format
- Learn how the body heals and how to care for the body
Title: Who Got Game? Football
Author: Derrick D. Barnes
Publisher: Workman Kids
Release Date: 8/18/26
Welcome to the the Super Bowl of sports history books, the G.O.A.T. of the storytelling shelf, the most entertaining football book you’ll ever read, from New York Times bestselling author and Newbery Honor winner Derrick D. Barnes.
Football rules America. It’s the favorite child (like you), it’s the teacher’s pet, it’s the grandkid that Granny bakes all of the cakes, cookies, and pies for. But while you might know all the latest, do you know the GREATEST? The players, coaches, change agents, and all-out legends who made the National Football League what it is today? We’re talking about Tom Brady—the sixth-round quarterback, passed up by every team in the league, who ended up becoming the G.O.A.T. Joe Horn, who hid a cell phone in the goalpost and used it after he scored a touchdown—because he was that confident he could get to the end zone. Jim Thorpe, Peyton Manning, Orlando Jones, Mel Blount They’re all here for you to discover.
If you consider yourself a football fan, get ready for the names, games, stats, records, and far-out facts that you couldn’t possibly get anywhere else. Have you ever heard of Fritz Pollard or Anthony Muñoz? Did you know that one of the greatest defensive backs of all time is part of the reason the passing game expanded in the NFL? And can you believe that the biggest comeback in NFL history was led by a backup quarterback? By the time you’re finished with this book, you’ll have an advanced degree in football facts. So get ready to flip through the pages, take meticulous notes, and highlight those amazing stories and hard-to-believe facts that will make your buddies crown you a football genius … because you are. Game time, baby!
Title: Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Abrams Books
Release Date: 8/11/26
Rowley Jefferson is back with another book in his Awesome Friendly series—Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2—which is even more hilariously terrifying than the first!
Fans of Greg Heffley and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by Jeff Kinney get a chance to dive into the twisted, unexpectedly hilarious world of Rowley’s imagination.
In this second tome of Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories, you’ll encounter monstrous insects, the Grim Reaper as a boy, and a lost pinkie that’s searching for its owner. But reader beware—while these stories are sidesplittingly funny, they’ll still give you a delightful fright!
See the Wimpy Kid World in a whole new way with the #1 bestselling Awesome Friendly books, told from the perspective of Greg Heffley’s best friend Rowley Jefferson: Diary of an Awesome Friendly Kid: Rowley Jefferson’s Journal | Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure | Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories | Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Spooky Stories 2
Title: Fear Files: Hide and Seek
Author: Christopher Edge
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: 7/14/2026
Coming to find you, ready or not!
The first title in a brand new middle-grade horror series by the award-winning author Christopher Edge.
Nobody knows who started the Darkive. It’s a database filled with first-hand accounts of strange, unexplained experiences. Ghosts; paranormal entities; weird anomalies. Each one is stored with a bank of evidence to prove the story. Are you ready to dive in?
Adam didn’t think his summer holiday could get any worse. His camping trip with his best friend, Sol, seems to be doomed. They’ve been arguing, and now they find themselves in a strange, abandoned town, where they are told to take part in a game of hide-and-seek. But the rules are hard to follow. And who, or what, are they hiding from?
Title: The Thing About Giants
Author: Christopher Galvin
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: 6/9/2026
Jacq is destined to hunt fearsome giants to protect her city—but when she meets a sensitive young giant named Corman in the forest, she realizes the world isn’t quite what she’s been taught. A page-turning adventure full of heart.
Thirteen-year-old Jacq Dyer is the daughter of two renowned giant hunters, although she’s never had much stomach for what they do. In a city built from giants’ bones, people rely on hunters to keep them prosperous and safe, and everyone knows that giants are violent, senseless creatures . . . aren’t they? But when an accident leaves Jacq lost and injured in the wilderness, she ends up face-to-face with Corman, a frightened young giant, and Misneach, his overgrown badger. Corman has just lost his dad to hunters, and he and Jacq must learn to trust each other if they’re going to find their ways home. But as they start finding out the truth about giant hunting—and the shadowy Resistance Jacq has grown up hating—they discover there’s more at stake than either of their people know. With captivating world-building and rich characters, debut author Christopher Galvin offers an engrossing and thought-provoking tale.
Title: Sama Crushes the Code
Author: Samaira Mehta
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Release Date: 7/14/2026
Big-thinking Sama loves coding, but is she skilled enough to fit in at Tech Club? This is a playful and STEM-rich story inspired by the real life of its seventeen-year-old author.
Sama’s starting middle school! Maybe Tech Club will be a good place to fit in. She’s into solving problems, building clever machines, and collecting beautiful data, plus her friend Nancy has given her a cool book on coding. But everyone at Tech Club is already so good at coding—will Sama’s contributions be enough for her to be included in the Code Crusher championship? Sama proposes a project to help a stressed-out bus driver develop a time-saving route, but the club leader thinks the coding isn’t complex enough. When Sama befriends new neighbor Zoe (who built her own hovercraft!), however, the two girls inspire each other, and soon Sama bounces back with a bunny-based board game that teaches kids how to code while having fun. Could this game be the key to getting to the championship? Precise coding vocabulary and examples are woven seamlessly into this lively story, based on the real-life computer science adventures of its author, young tech entrepreneur Samaira Mehta.
Title: Secrets at Sparhawk Point
Author: Anna Rose Johnson
Publisher: Holiday House Press
Release Date: 8/25/2026
To draw tourists to their declining coastal town, a group of children claim to have seen a mythic creature from Ojibwe legend, the storm-monster Mishipeshu. But when their plan backfires, they’ll need to convince everyone the beast is only make-believe. But. . . what if it isn’t?
1943. Sparhawk Point, Michigan may be a small town, but it’s home. For the Swedish Ahlstrom girls, it’s the only place they’ve ever known—a place they may have to leave if their father’s church can’t find more parishioners. The Ojibwe Robicheaux boys are struggling, too: their father is off at war, and a lack of tourists means no income from their two rental cottages. These kids can’t bear the thought of leaving. . . so they’ll have to make new residents come to them, and fast.
After spotting an unknown object in the water, they find their solution. Drawing on inspiration from Ojibwe stories of the mysterious Mishipeshu—the riser of storms on Lake Superior—the children spread stories of their very own “American Loch Ness monster” to bring curious visitors to their shores. But their plan works too well! People become afraid to visit. To save their families, they’ll need to convince everyone that the creature isn’t real. . . even if that may prove to be their biggest lie yet.
Secrets at Sparhawk Point is a timeless summer adventure from acclaimed Ojibwe voice Anna Rose Johnson, whose first two books—The Star that Always Stays and The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry—have received an avalanche of awards, nominations, and media spots. This is another flawless, insightful, and glowing novel that marries a Native American perspective with myth, history, and a classic storytelling voice.
Title: Sneaks
Author: Amy Tern
Publisher: Holiday House Press
Release Date: 7/7/2026
A missing child and an apartment that should be empty spur two tweens to solve an increasingly tangled neighborhood mystery in this page-turning middle grade debut.
This hijinks-heavy mystery, written in dual POV reads like Only Murders in the Building for tweens. Perfect for wannabe sleuths and nosy neighbors!
Valory has developed an unfortunate reputation as a thief—primarily because she steals things—though she has resolved to change her ways.
Rook is a total asparagus-eater (a.k.a. a good kid), but he likes to spy on his neighbors. Nobody’s perfect, right?
The twelve-year-olds form an unlikely alliance when they encounter suspicious behavior in an “empty” apartment across the alley from Rook’s house. While agoraphobia keeps home-schooled Rook trapped on his property, confident and street-smart Valory can roam the scene undetected. Their opposite personalities might, in fact, be key to their success.
But their amateur detective mission morphs into something more sinister when they realize the apartment next door could be connected to a recent kidnapping. When the sleuths realize they’re also being watched, the pressure is on to unmask the villain. . . before she snatches them, too.
Title: Airrelle of the Maroon Witches
Author: Sumayyah Beck
Publisher: Holiday House Press
Release Date: 7/14/2026
Kiki’s Delivery Service meets Black Panther in this middle grade fantasy set in a richly imagined world where once-enslaved people have built an enchanted network of hidden witch communities.
Anyone can become a witch in Missen Dessalin. If you can find the Missen, that is. Some say the whole reason it was called a “Missen” is because it was a gathering place for those who wanted to stay missin’.
Twelve-year-old Airrelle Bookman, born and raised in Missen Dessalin by two witch parents, has been waiting for magic to call to her for years now. She just has to secure her four patron animals, complete four rites, master four skills, and pass the initiation ceremony. Then she’ll be a fully confirmed maroon witch, able to fly beyond the walls of the Missen as she pleases. Just like her parents, older siblings, and best friend Hosniya.
When the time for her trial finally seems to arrive, so do familial troubles and threats to the very safety and secrecy of Missen Dessalin itself. But an ordinary girl from beyond the protected walls of Missen, one who has grown up in our own tumultuous and unenchanted world, may just be the key to Airrelle’s troubles.
Informed by the history of maroon societies and inspired by the fantasy worlds of Studio Ghibli, Airrelle of the Maroon Witches is a beautiful coming-of-age story about a shy but resourceful girl discovering her own power.
*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*
One winner will receive a copy of each title from the Summer Buzzworthy Book Giveaway 2026 (MG)! ~US ONLY
*Click the Rafflepress link below to enter the giveaway*
Must include a complete US address to be eligible to win
