Summer Reads 2020 from Publishers Weekly Publishers Weekly

Chance: Escape from the Holocaust

Uri Shulevitz (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Caldecott Medalist Shulevitz turns to middle grade memoir to tell his account, in words and pictures, of his childhood flight from the terrors of the Holocaust. Over the course of his Jewish family’s harrowing journey from Warsaw to the Soviet Union, the young Shulevitz discovers his nascent love of art.

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Ikenga

Nnedi Okorafor (Viking)

Drawing from her Nigerian heritage and blending contemporary realism with elements of magic, Akata Witch author Okorafor’s first middle grade novel follows a boy with superpowers on a quest to avenge his police chief father’s murder.

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The One and Only Bob

Katherine Applegate, illus. by Patricia Castelao (HarperCollins)

With this stellar sequel to her Newbery Award–winning The One and Only Ivan, Applegate sounds precisely balanced notes of genuine humor and heart-tugging tenderness through the voice of Ivan’s best friend, Chihuahua mutt Bob.

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Sal & Gabi Fix the Universe (Sal & Gabi #2)

Carlos Hernandez (Disney/Riordan)

In Hernandez’s rousing follow-up to Sal & Gabi Break the Universe, the titular duo is faced with a new set of challenges when a desperate Gabi from a parallel dimension appears, claiming that Sal’s father’s efforts to close wormholes will actually destroy the universe.

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Stepping Stones (Peapod Farm #1)

Lucy Knisley (Random House Graphic)

When Jen moves to the country with her mother after her parents’ divorce, she is less than thrilled to trade comic book shops for chicken coop–related chores. Knisley’s autobiographical comics chops are on full display in her first graphic novel for kids, a fictionalized telling of her childhood experiences.

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We Dream of Space

Erin Entrada Kelly (Greenwillow)

Newbery Award winner Kelly follows three siblings in the weeks leading up to the Challenger’s January 1986 launch, showing the incredible power of words—the irreparable damage they inflict and their ability to uplift—while crafting a captivating story about a family in crisis.

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