Lone Star List 2024 (Gr. 6-8)

11-year-old Kofi Offin dreams of water. Its mysterious, immersive quality. The rich, earthy scent of the current. The clearness, its urgent whisper that beckons with promises and secrets... Kofi has heard the call on the banks of Upper Kwanta, in the village where he lives. He loves these things above all else: his family, the fireside tales of his father's father, a girl named Ama, and, of course, swimming. Some say he moves like a minnow, not just...

In an alternate San Antonio, there have been no known cases of vampirism since a group of masked vampire hunters called the Vanquishers wiped out the last horde of the undead twenty years ago, but twelve-year-old Malika "Boog" Wilson's parents are not taking any chances, especially when Boog's new classmate Aaron goes missing.

"Trust neither thin-bottomed frying pans nor Molinas. Lari Ramires has always known this to be true. Her family's bakery, Salt, has been at war with the Molinas' bakery across the street, Sugar, for generations. Slinging rumors, clashing at bake-offs, shouting insults in Olinda's streets--life may not be peaceful, but it's just the way things are. That is, until Lari's world turns upside down when her beloved grandmother passes away. On top of that,...

"Eleven-year-old Kemi Carter loves scientific facts, specifically probability. It's how she understands the world and her place in it. Kemi knows her odds of being born were 1 in 5.5 trillion, and that the odds of her having the best family ever were even lower. Yet somehow, Kemi lucked out. But everything Kemi thought she knew changes when she sees an asteroid hover in the sky, casting a purple haze over her world. AMPLUS-68 has an 84.7% chance of...

Told from different points of view, the Putterman cousins, twins Sammy and Matty, and Becky, have been at odds, but when Hurricane Harvey hits Houston, they soon find that they need each other more than ever.

Fourteen-year-old star freshman quarterback Caleb Springer watches his father deteriorate from injuries he suffered playing the very same sport, forcing Caleb to consider whether playing football, the sport of his dreams, is worth risking irreparable physical harm.

"The Lilac. The bard songs say that she's the world's most fearsome bounty hunter. That there's no criminal she can't catch, no mystery she can't solve. None of that is true. Yet. In reality, the Lilac is just a kid, and the bard who wrote all that is her best friend, Dulcinetta. But the Lilac has set her goals on becoming the best bounty hunter in the Thirteen Kingdoms--and when a priceless artifact goes missing from the home of famed monster hunter...

Asperides, an ancient demonic talking sword, tricks Nack Furnival, a bumbling would-be knight, into battling a wicked sorcerer bent on summoning all the evils of the underworld.

Seventeen-year-old Ross Quest, a master thief, enters the Thieves' Gambit, a competition consisting of dangerous, international heists, in order to save her mother's life.

The pandemic was rough on everyone, especially since school went from being a fun place where you could hang out with your friends to a bunch of heads in small rectangles all trying to talk at once. For Bradley, Edelle, Hunter, Jasper, and Keiko, thats about to change. A mysterious box arrives at each of their houses, and theyre invited to attend a virtual school. More than just being online, theyll be able to create an avatar of themselves and interact...