Yesterday was a huge release youth lit release day! The following lists the MG & YA books with IPOC authors that were released. I’m still working on the entire list for Oct but until then, you can always find the 2020 list here.

6 Oct Apple (Skin to the Core) by Eric Gansworth. Levine Querido.
The author recounts his life as part of an Onondaga family living among Tuscaroras, and of Native people in America, including the damaging legacy of government boarding schools.

6 Oct Becoming Muhammad Ali by Kwame Alexander and James Patterson, illus. by Dawud Anyabwile. Little, Brown/Patterson
Authorized by and written in cooperation with the Muhammad Ali estate, this biographical novel follows young Ali⁠—Cassius Clay⁠—before he became one of the greatest sports heroes of all time.

6 Oct Blazewrath Games by Amparo Ortiz. Page Street Kids
In an alternate contemporary world, people compete with dragons in an international sports tournament.

6 Oct The Boys in the Back Row by Mike Jung. Levine Querido.
Best friends Matt and Eric hatch a plan for one big final adventure together before Eric moves away

6 Oct Class Act by Jerry Craft. Quill Tree.
In this companion to Newbery-winning graphic novel New Kid, Jordan’s friend Drew has struggles of his own at Riverdale Academy Day School.

6 Oct Dragon Mountain by Katie and Kevin Tsang. Sterling Children’s Books
In this fantasy series debut, four new friends at a language and culture camp in China open a crack in an ancient mountain.

6 Oct Girl Giant and the Monkey King by Van Hoang. Roaring Brook Press.
A girl who just wants to fit in makes a deal with the Monkey King, a deity and trickster.

6 Oct The Mirror: Broken Wish by Julie C. Dao. Disney Hyperion
Sixteen-year-old Elva has a secret. She has visions and strange powers that she will do anything to hide. She knows the warnings about what happens to witches in their small village of Hanau. She’s heard the terrible things people say about the Witch of the North Woods, and the malicious hunts that follow. But when Elva accidentally witnesses a devastating vision of the future, she decides she has to do everything she can to prevent it. Tapping into her powers for the first time, Elva discovers a magical mirror and its owner—none other than the Witch of the North Woods herself. As Elva learns more about her burgeoning magic, and the lines between hero and villain start to blur, she must find a way to right past wrongs before it’s too late.

6 Oct The Shadow Mission by Shamim Sarif. HarperTeen.
In the sequel to The Athena Protocol, Jessie heads to Pakistan to take down the man whose actions spurred the founders of her female spy ring to create a secretive squad.

6 Oct A Thousand Questions by Saadia Faruqi. Quill Tree Books.
Two girls navigate a summer of change and family upheaval in Karachi, Pakistan, as they become friends and begin to understand their cultural differences.

6 Oct Tristan Strong Destroys the World (Tristan Strong #2) by Kwame Mbalia. Disney/Riordan
Just back from a victorious but exhausting adventure in Alke, the land of African American folk heroes and African Gods, Tristan Strong must rescue his grandmother, who has been abducted by a mysterious villain bent on revenge.

6 Oct Twins by Varian Johnson, illus. by Shannon Wright. Graphix
When twins and best friends Maureen and Francine Carter start sixth grade, Francine becomes Fran and expresses interest in activities and clothes that will set her apart from her sister, who is content with how things are.

6 Oct The Unexplainable Disappearance of Mars Patel by Sheela Chari. Walker Books US
Kids are disappearing from a school in this tech-filled sci-fi adventure based on the podcast of the same name.