Tag Archives: Marieke Nijkamp

Happy International Nonbinary Day 2026!

Happy International Nonbinary Day 2026! We’re celebrating, as we do, with books starring nonbinary main characters and/or love interests! For even more recs, check out past years’ posts.

Early Reader

Witchycakes #1: Sweet Magic by Kara LeReau and Ariane Moreira

Welcome to the most magical bakery — Witchycakes! Little Blue, a witch-in-training, delivers baked goods all over their town, and helps their neighbors with a touch of magic. Cozy up with this sweet chapter book with irresisitible full-color art on every page!

In a magical bakery called Witchycakes there’s a young witch-to-be named Blue. Blue’s Mama bakes with magic and Blue makes the deliveries! They ride their bike all over town with their basket filled with magical scones, tartes, and pies to deliver. There’s always something going on in Shelville and Blue loves to help their neighbors — especially if helping them means they get to use a little bit of magic.

Cook up some love with Blue as they use magic and problem-solving to be the best helper they can be in their whimsical little town. And there’s a special magical recipe at the end of the book!

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Happy International Nonbinary Day 2026!

Happy Disability Pride Month 2026!

It’s Disability Pride Month, and we’re celebrating with books that have queer disabled main characters! For more books with queer disabled MCs, or to look for specific conditions, check out our Disability/Neurodivergence page, linked here, as well as past years’ posts.

If you have a visual disability and are looking for more accessible titles, you can find lists on the site of books available in Large Print or Braille under those hyperlinked words.

Note: For more Autism rep, check out this Autism Acceptance Month post. For more Cerebral Palsy rep, check out this World Cerebral Palsy Day post.

Middle Grade Fiction

Boundless ed. by Marieke Nijkamp (October 27, 2026)

A middle-grade short story anthology featuring disabled kids, written by disabled writers, and edited by #1 New York Times-bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp. 

Imagine the boundless experiences of disabled kids: A Deaf Southerner who solves local mysteries. A young diabetic plant mage encountering magical mishaps. A girl with epilepsy discovering a hidden world in her grandmother’s garden. A chronically fatigued gamer saving the day―and their team―during an epic VR space race.

From juvenile arthritis to asthma and from wheelchairs to neurodiversity, Boundless: 17 Stories Starring Disabled Kids writes disability back into the mainstream narrative of the commercial genres we love, with an inclusive and intersectional lens.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Happy Disability Pride Month 2026!

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Middle Grade: July-December 2026

Finding My Spark by Isabelle Jameson and Sylvain Cabo, trans. by Ann Marie Boulanger (August 18th)

When puberty hits, Alex begins to realize he’s been misgendered as a girl his whole life.

First, he stops wearing dresses and paints his room a dark color. Then he cuts his hair short. But people still aren’t seeing the real him. His mom has always called him her “little star,” but he doesn’t feel like shining. Instead, he feels like hiding away.

Alex knows he should tell people who he really is, but he can’t seem to get the words out. Will his parents be mad? Will his friends still like him? He decides to write a letter to his mom telling her the truth. Slowly but surely, he starts telling others―first the rest of his family, then his class. The big explosion he worried about never comes, just love and support. He’s still his mom’s little star, and he can finally be himself and shine.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Middle Grade: July-December 2026

New Releases: April 2026

Track Four is Not About You by L.M. Bennett (4th)

Bishop left without a word. Shiloh never knew why. Four years later, neither of them has recovered.

Now Bishop’s album is falling apart, and the only producer who understands her sound is the ex she ghosted. Shiloh doesn’t do chaos, second chances, or Bishop. But when she hears that dying demo, something cracks. Because the raw honesty on that track? That’s theirs. That’s what they used to make together. Before the fame. Before the silence.

Four months. One studio. Two people who used to be everything to each other, now barely able to share air.

The music is pulling them closer. The past is daring them to run.

And if track four isn’t about her…why does it sound like an apology?

Buy it: Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: April 2026

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction: January-June 2026

I, in the Shadows by Tori Bovalino (January 13th)

Maybe this is possession; maybe this is truly what it is to be haunted.

There’s a ghost hanging out in Drew Larpin’s new room. He’s a fellow Pine Hollow high schooler named Liam, and technically, it’s his old room. Now he’s stuck haunting it―unsure of how he died or why he hasn’t moved on to the afterlife. Drew knows she has to help him. . . . She has to figure out how to resolve Liam’s earthly regrets. Otherwise, he’ll degrade―just like any ghost who hangs around the living for too long―until all that’s left is a hungry, mindless husk of who he used to be.

So, Drew interviews Liam about his life, getting the rundown on her new classmates in the process. She slowly falls into Liam’s old group of friends, experiencing their grief with the painful knowledge that Liam is watching it all play out from right beside her. Things get more complicated when Drew realizes she and Liam share a hopeless attraction to valedictorian-to-be, walking sunshine Hannah Sullivan. Liam was Hannah’s best friend in life, and at first, he doesn’t seem to mind being Drew’s wingman in death. But his unrequited feelings boil under the surface. The spectral energy cast off by his emotions is so powerful that it catches the attention of something truly sinister.

It’s lurking in the woods, watching Liam, attracted by the intensity of his grief and frustration. Whatever this “Watcher” has in store for him, it’s a fate far worse than death. Drew is determined to save him from it. But with Hannah slowly catching on that Liam might not be totally gone, the tangled mess of everyone’s emotions only draws the Watcher closer. It becomes a race against the clock to help Liam come to terms with his own death―even if it means shattering the fragile, painful normalcy his loved ones have built in his absence.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Young Adult Fiction: January-June 2026

Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Middle Grade: January-June 2026

Brady Mason’s Perfect Fit by Nicole Melleby (January 13th)

Brady Mason couldn’t care less about fashion. She likes what she knows: baseball, comfortable clothes, and pork roll with egg and cheese. When Brady’s friends notice that she looks strangely like fashion editor Elena Lavigne, they start the rumor that Brady is Elena’s long-lost daughter. They’ll make a few TikTok videos, get some fun buzz online about their similarities, and that will be the end of it.

But when a DNA test confirms that Brady is Elena’s long-lost daughter, she’s summoned to Manhattan to live with her. The only problem: Elena’s high-fashion life clashes with Brady’s tomboy antics, and Elena doesn’t know how to be a mother any more than Brady knows how to be a daughter. But the more time passes, the more Brady sees what they have in common, and she starts wondering…if she and Elena are both searching for a family, could the two of them be the right fit?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading Most Anticipated LGBTQ+ Middle Grade: January-June 2026

New Release Spotlight: 10th Anniversary Edition of This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Today on the site I’m delighted to welcome back Marieke Nijkamp, Dutch author of so many books but most notably, today, of This is Where it Ends, an uber-bestselling YA thriller whose 10th anniversary edition just released yesterday. As it happens, Marieke is one of my best friends dating back to before either of us were published, so it’s been a particular joy to be on board for this journey! Before we get to our chat, here’s the gist of This is Where it Ends: 10th Anniversary Edition:

The tenth anniversary edition of the #1 New York Times bestseller about a high school held hostage, and four teens―each with their own reason to fear the boy with the gun. Featuring printed edges, updated author’s note, and exclusive material.

10:00am: The principal of Opportunity, Alabama’s High School finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02am: The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class.

10:03am: The auditorium doors won’t open.

10:05am: Someone starts shooting.

Told over the span of 54 harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student’s calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Now read on for my chat with the author, Marieke Nijkamp!

Continue reading New Release Spotlight: 10th Anniversary Edition of This is Where it Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

New Releases: November 2025

Chris Makes a Friend by Alex Gino (4th)

This is not the summer Chris has planned…

Chris does not want to be spending the summer with her grandparents and her little sister. Her grandparents aren’t bad — they just don’t let Chris do what she wants to do, which is sit around and read all day. And her sister, Becca, is the opposite, never sitting still and never being quiet.

The good part is that Chris’s grandparents are always telling her to go outside and “get some air” — so she can escape into the woods with a book and get some alone time. Or at least it’s alone time until Mia comes along. Mia is also in town for the summer, and she understands Chris in a way that Chris’s family just can’t.

Soon Chris is sneaking off to spend as much time with her friend as possible. But is there more to Mia than Mia is saying?

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: November 2025

New Releases: October 7, 2025

Middle Grade

Splinter & Ash 2: City of Secrets by Marieke Nijkamp

The second book in New York Times bestselling author Marieke Nijkamp’s immersive medieval fantasy trilogy! A shadowy conspiracy threatens the city, and two determined misfits must uncover the secret plot—and reveal their own secrets—in order to save everyone. 

It’s only been a few months since Princess Adelisa, who goes by Ash, returned to the city of Kestrel’s Haven after her abduction by the treasonous group of nobles called the Larks. Ash’s best friend, Splinter, is slowly advancing in her squire training and feeling more protective of Ash than ever.

But Splinter and Ash’s work is not nearly done. Anyone could be a Lark, and it seems that everyone is hiding a secret. When the queen’s spies learn that the Larks plan to disrupt the city’s Harvest Festival, Splinter and Ash are determined to do their part to stop it. They’ll face traitors, assassins, and a ticking clock to prevent everything from going up in flames.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

Continue reading New Releases: October 7, 2025

Inside an Anthology: This is How We Roll ed. by Rosiee Thor

Today on the site I’m delighted to give a peek inside This is How We Roll ed. by Rosiee Thor, a YA anthology out today that features queer stories about tabletop games! Here’s the gist:

The magic of tabletop RPGs lives in the creativity of the players. Given the chance to explore gender, relationships, and queer existence across vast worlds with completely different sets of rules, queer players throughout the years have found acceptance, camaraderie, and joy by rolling the dice and kicking ass. This anthology celebrates that TTRPG rite of passage with a diverse lineup of queer authors who are just as mighty with their pens as with swords… and shields… and spells!

This collection of fourteen stories includes critically acclaimed authors such as New York Times Bestseller Marieke Nijkamp, New York Times Bestseller Andrew Joseph White, Pura Belpré Honor winner Jonny Garza Villa, LAMBDA Literary Award winner Rebecca Podos, LAMBDA Award finalist Linsey Miller, Indie Bestseller Margaret Owen, and Morris Award finalist Akemi Dawn Bowman.

Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon

And now, let’s hear from the contributors!

 

Continue reading Inside an Anthology: This is How We Roll ed. by Rosiee Thor