2022 Texas Lone Star Reading List

Check out the 2022 Texas Lone Star reading list, developed by the Texas Library Association to encourage students in grades 6, 7, and 8 to explore a variety of current books. 2022 Lone Star books will hit Plano Public Library shelves starting January 14, though you can place holds and explore the eLibrary versions now!

Plano Public Library has all 30 Lone Star books available for checkout, and you can visit a library location for information on Texas Library Association reading lists and to browse our Texas 2×2’s, Lone Star, and Bluebonnet titles.

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston, illustrated by Godwin Akpan. Thirteen-year-old Amari, a poor Black girl from the projects, gets an invitation from her missing brother to join the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs and join in the fight against an evil magician. Also a 2022-2023 Texas Bluebonnet title. Print / Large Print / eBook / eAudiobook / Playaway.

Thirteen Witches: The Memory Thief by Jodi Lynn Anderson. When sixth-grader Rosie begins to see magic, she learns that her mother’s dwindling memory is tied to an age-old battle between the light of the moon and the darkness of witches. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

The In-Between by Rebecca K.S. Ansari. Cooper is lost. Ever since his father left their family three years ago, he has become distant from his friends, constantly annoyed by his little sister, Jess, and completely fed up with the pale, creepy rich girl who moved in next door, who won’t stop staring at him. When Cooper learns of an unsolved mystery his sister has discovered online, he welcomes the distraction. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Letters from Cuba by Ruth Behar. In 1938, eleven-year-old Esther joins her father in tropical, multicultural Cuba, where they toil together to rescue the rest of their Jewish family from persecution in Poland. Includes notes about the author’s grandmother, on whom the story is based. Print / Large print / eBook / eAudiobook.

The Blackbird Girls by Anne Blankman. On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work–Chernobyl–has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who’ve always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad where both of them discover something they’ve wished for: a best friend. But how far would you go to save your best friend’s life? Would you risk your own? Print / Large print / eBook / eAudiobook.

City of the Plague God by Sarwat Chadda. Thirteen-year-old Sikander Aziz has to team up with the hero Gilgamesh in order to stop Nergal, the ancient god of plagues, from wiping out the population of Manhattan in this adventure based on Mesopotamian mythology. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Scritch Scratch by Lindsay Currie. Haunted after helping her father on his ghost-themed Chicago bus tour, twelve-year-old Claire must discover what the spectral boy from the bus wants before it is too late. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Starfish by Lisa Fipps. Bullied and shamed her whole life for being fat, twelve-year-old Ellie finally gains the confidence to stand up for herself, with the help of some wonderful new allies. Print / Large print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Alone by Megan E. Freeman. When twelve-year-old Maddie hatches a scheme for a secret sleepover with her two best friends, she ends up waking up to a nightmare. She’s alone–left behind in a town that has been mysteriously evacuated and abandoned. Can Maddie’s stubborn will to survive carry her through the most frightening experience of her life? Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

When Life Gives You Mangos by Kereen Getten. Twelve-year-old Clara lives on an island that visitors call exotic. But there’s nothing exotic about it to Clara. She loves eating ripe mangos off the ground, running outside in the rain with her Papa during rainy season, and going to her secret hideout with Gaynah–even though lately she’s not acting like a best friend. The only thing out of the ordinary for Clara is that something happened to her memory that made her forget everything that happened last summer after a hurricane hit. But this summer is going to be different for Clara. Everyone is buzzing with excitement over a new girl in the village who is not like other visitors. She is about to make big waves on the island–and give Clara a summer she won’t forget. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Ground Zero by Alan Gratz. Brandon is visiting his dad on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 when the attack comes; Reshmina is a girl in Afghanistan who has grown up in the aftermath of that attack but dreams of peace, becoming a teacher and escaping her village and the narrow role that the Taliban believes is appropriate for women–both are struggling to survive, both changed forever by the events of 9/11. Print / Large print / Playaway / eBook / eAudiobook.

Hide and Seeker by Daka Hermon. Something is wrong with twelve-year-old Zee, who has returned after a year’s absence; nobody knows where he was or what happened to him, but now he is distracted and violent, freaking out when he sees his friends, Justin, Nia, and Lyric, playing an odd game of hide-and-seek, and talking wildly about some danger that is approaching–and soon his friends are pulled into a shadowy world ruled by a monstrous, shape-shifting Seeker, forced to play a terrifying game of hide-and-seek where they will have to confront their worst nightmares in order to find their way home. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Lupe Wong Won’t Dance by Donna Barba Higuera. Lupe Wong is going to be the first female pitcher in the Major Leagues. Lupe needs an A in all her classes in order to meet her favorite pitcher, Fu Li Hernandez, who’s Chinacan/Mexinese just like her. So when the horror that is square dancing rears its head in gym? Obviously she’s not gonna let that slide. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

When the World Was Ours by Liz Kessler. Vienna. 1936. Three young friends–Leo, Elsa, and Max–spend a perfect day together, unaware that around them Europe is descending into a growing darkness and that events will soon mean that they are ripped apart from each other as their lives take very different directions. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

The Last Fallen Star by Graci Kim. After thirteen-year-old Hattie Oh casts a dangerous spell so her adopted sister, Riley, will get a share of her inherited magic, Riley must undertake a near-impossible quest to save Hattie from death. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Thanks a Lot, Universe by Chad Lucas. “Brian has always been anxious, whether at home or in class or on the basketball court. His dad tries to get him to stand up for himself, and his mom helps as much as she can, but after he and his brother are placed into foster care, Brian starts having panic attacks. And he doesn’t know if things will ever be ‘normal’ again. Print / eBook / eAudiobook / Playaway.

Ten Thousand Tries by Amy Makechnie. Twelve-year-old Golden Maroni starts eighth grade determined to be master of his universe, but learns he cannot control everything on the soccer field, in his friendships, and especially in facing his father’s incurable disease. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

From the Desk of Zoe Washington by Janae Marks. Avid baker Zoe Washington receives a letter on her twelfth birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for a terrible crime. Print / Large print / Playaway / eBook / eAudiobook.

Glitch by Laura Martin. Regan Fitz and Elliot Mason have been enemies since they started training to become Glitchers–people who travel through time to preserve important historical events. But everything changes when they find a letter from Regan’s future self, warning them about an impending disaster that threatens them and everyone they know. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Millionaires for the Month by Stacy McAnulty. After seventh graders Benji and Felix “borrow” $20 from a lost wallet, the billionaire owner challenges them to spend over $5 million dollars in thirty days in order to learn life lessons about money. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Curses by Lish McBride. Forced to live as a beast forever unless she agrees to marry a man of her mother’s choosing before her 18th birthday, Merit Cravan joins forces with a con artist who is her only hope in finding the best match. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Gone to the Woods by Gary Paulsen. The three-time Newbery Honor-winning author of Hatchet shares the story of his turbulent childhood, his escape into military service and the life-changing impact of an encouraging librarian who handed him his first book. Print / Large print / Playaway / eBook / eAudiobook.

Time Villains by Victor Piñeiro. When a homework assignment and a magic table summon real and fictional people from history, including the bloodthirsty pirate Blackbeard, sixth-grader Javi, his brawny younger sister Brady, and his brainy best friend Wiki join forces to save the world. Print / eBook.

The Great Destroyers by Caroline Tung Richmond. Jo Linden lives in a world where there are no atomic weapons, and the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union is played out in the Pax Games, fought with powerful robotic mecha war machines operated by young pilots. Print / eBook.

Cece Rios and the Desert of Souls by Kaela Rivera. Privately questioning her remote community’s superstitions about dangerous powerful spirits in their Devil’s Alley home, Cecelia Rios experiments with the forbidden art of brujería to rescue her kidnapped sister. Print / Playaway / eBook / eAudiobook.

Hold Back the Tide by Meloinda Salisbury. Since there wasn’t enough proof to convict Alva’s father for the murder of her mother, she’s been forced to live in his house in Ormscaula, Scotland, being raised by the man she holds responsible for her motherlessness. His family has been called guardians of the loch for generations, and now it falls to her to monitor the water levels, despite not knowing what she’s watching for — or what may be watching her back. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.

Bump by Matt Wallace. There is only one thing MJ loves: the world of professional wrestling. She especially idolizes the luchadores and the stories they tell in the ring. When MJ learns that her neighbor, Mr. Arellano, runs a wrestling school, she has a new mission in life: join the school, train hard, and become a wrestler. Print / eBook / eAudiobook / Playaway.

The Shape of Thunder by Jasmine Warga. Estranged from the best friend whose brother killed her sister in a school shooting, a grieving Cora receives a message on her twelfth birthday from her friend, asking for her help with creating a time portal to prevent the tragedy. Print / Large print / Playaway / eBook / eAudiobook.

Turtle Boy by M. Evan Wolkenstein. Seventh-grader Will’s Bar Mitzvah community service project, visiting an incurably ill older boy in the hospital, leads to a friendship that is life-changing for both them and those around them. Print / Large print / eBook / eAudiobook.

A Taste for Love by Jennifer Yen. Both high school senior Liza Yang and her mother share a love and talent for baking but disagree on the subject of dating, especially when Mrs. Yang turns her annual baking contest into a matchmaking scheme. Print / eBook / eAudiobook.