Middle Grade
severe and unusual weather | harpercollins/quilltree books
Nadine has rules for surviving as the new kid:
Keep your head down.
Mind your own business.
Don’t stick your neck out for anyone. Especially not for Francis Pepper, the boy everyone in school picks on.
Nadine just wants to get through the rest of the year without any trouble. She knows that once her mom is out of rehab, it’ll be back to the unpredictable in Chicago.
But when she’s paired with Francis for a project about Centralia, Illinois, her new hometown, she’s drawn to his story. Francis was born the exact day that a tornado, the Great Tornado of the New Millennium (GTNM), destroyed the area. The cyclone even killed his mom. Then Nadine finds a mysterious book that contains instructions for channeling weather. Before she can blink, she and Francis are caught in the swirling whispers and lies that surround the GTNM.
Try as they might, they can’t figure out two things: Who would want to summon a tornado to Centralia? And why would they want to hurt Francis’s family?
• An Illinois Reads 2026 selection
“A breezy, feel-good tale with whiffs of fantasy and wish fulfillment.” — Booklist, starred review
Breda’s island | harpercollins/quilltree books
After Breda Moriarity gets caught stealing one too many times, her mom sends her to Ireland—a place she has never been—to live with the grandfather she has never met. While Breda doesn’t want to be in this strangely beautiful land, she finally gets to meet her Granda, her mom’s father. He’s a grumpy farmer who is also a seanchaí, a traditional Gaelic storyteller. But the most important story to Breda is the one nobody will talk about: what happened to her absent father. If nothing else this summer, Breda is determined to figure out the truth about her family’s history—and herself.
This powerfully poignant middle grade novel asks important questions about immigration, estranged relationships, and family secrets.
• Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
• Best Book for Kids 2022, New York Public Library
• Chicago Writers Association 2023 Book of the Year nominee