2024 New 9-12 Arrivals

Cora Mae Tipton is determined to light up her Appalachian community in this historical fiction novel from an award-winning author and former librarian. It's 1937 and the government is pushing to bring electricity to the mountains of southeastern Kentucky. It's all Cora can think of; radios with news from around the world, machines that keep food cold, lightbulbs by which to read at night! Cora figures she can help spread the word by starting a school newspaper and convincing her neighbors to support the Rural Electrification Act. But resistance to change isn't easy to overcome, especially when it starts at home. Cora's mother is a fierce opponent of electrification. She argues that protecting the landscape of the holler-the trees, the streams, the land that provides for their way of life-is their responsibility. But Cora just can't let go of wanting more. Lyrical, literary, and deeply heartfelt, this debut novel from an award-winning author-librarian speaks to family, friendship, and loss through the spirited perspective of a girl eager for an electrified existence, but most of all, the light of her mother's love and acceptance. Back matter includes an Author's Note; further information on the Rural Electrification Act, the herbs and plants of Appalachia, the Pack Horse Library Project, and more; and a "Quick Questions" historical trivia section for readers. A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Meet the next big thing in the world of official Minecraft novels: zombies! Looking after a little sibling can be a real headache . . . especially when they're a zombie trying to eat your brains! Life is good for Bobbie in the sleepy village of Plaintown. Sure, her villager parents only ever say "Hrm," but you pick up the local language quickly. And maybe her little brother, Johnny, is always getting into trouble, but the village's iron golem is there to look out for him. And, yeah, things are too busy for exploring when you're the only one in town who ever takes their hands out of their sleeves. But maybe that's for the best. After all, there are things out there beyond the torchlight that are better handled by adventurers. But one night, a stranger comes to Plaintown-and he's followed by a horde of ravenous zombies! Bobbie's village is overrun, and her world is turned upside down as her friends, family, and neighbors fall victim to the zombies' endless appetite. Life is not so good for Ben, an adventurer with nothing left to his name but the armor on his back. When dawn's light shows him an abandoned village, he sees it as a chance to pick through the wreckage and get himself back on track. What he wasn't expecting to run into was a desperate girl with a baby zombie villager on a leash. Bobbie and Johnny are the only ones left . . . and her brother's a lot greener and a lot bitier than he was last night. There's still some of Johnny rattling around the little zombie monster's mind; Bobbie just knows it. And Ben might know a way to bring him back. As the two journey across the Overworld, dragging Johnny along (literally), they brave dangerous depths, terrifying mobs, and an expanding mystery. Was the zombie attack on Bobbie's village really just bad luck? Where did the rest of the zombies go? And how exactly do you take care of a little brother who can't stop trying to eat you? Hold onto your brains-and your bows-and get ready to enter Minecraft: Zombies!