A Wish in the Dark

A unique account of the amazing Thai cave rescue told in a heart-racing, you-are-there style that blends suspense, science, and cultural insight. On June 23, 2018, twelve young players of the Wild Boars soccer team and their coach enter a cave in northern Thailand seeking an afternoon’s adventure. But when they turn to leave, rising floodwaters block their path out. The boys are trapped! Before long, news of the missing team spreads, launching a seventeen-day rescue operation involving thousands of rescuers from around the globe.

Princess Lina isn’t like other girls. She is a Windtamer who controls the wind and lives in a palace in the clouds. But she isn’t like other Windtamers, either, since her dad is a Groundling (a human) and her wind powers have a knack for turning icy cold. When Lina convinces her parents to let her go to her best friend Claudia’s human school, her powers really get out of whack, creating icicles in the classroom and snowdrifts in the gym. Written as Lina’s diary, this book touches on issues of feeling different, making friends and coming into your own and embracing what makes you special.

As assistant to Mangkon’s most celebrated mapmaker, twelve-year-old Sai plays the part of a well-bred young lady with a glittering future. In reality, her father is a conman—and in a kingdom where the status of one’s ancestors dictates their social position, the truth could ruin her. Sai seizes the chance to join an expedition to chart the southern seas, but she isn’t the only one aboard with secrets. When Sai learns that the ship might be heading for the fabled Sunderlands—a land of dragons, dangers, and riches beyond imagining—she must weigh the cost of her dreams. Vivid, suspenseful, and thought-provoking, this tale of identity and integrity is as beautiful and intricate as the maps of old.

It’s hard starting middle school and being an outsider, but training for the cheerleading squad is fun when Christina and her best friend Megan work together. The fun stops when the 6th graders are supposed to try out for the cheerleading squad in front of the entire school! Based on the author’s experience, the ups and downs of friendship and middle school are both heartbreaking and heartwarming in this attractive graphic novel.

Spare, poetic text and breathtaking pictures invite readers on a journey that gently illuminates the causes of climate change as well as how our individual and collective actions can make the world better. Clear endnotes vetted by a climate expert answer a myriad of questions in simple language.