Weird Kid by Greg van Eekhout (out July 27): Superman, meet Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Add comic book heroes, a growly little dog, a bass guitar called Basszilla, butt jokes, and a kaiju, plop them all in a small Arizona town, and you’ve got Weird Kid. In the town of Cedar Creek View, weird things are happening. Sinkholes keep opening, strange goo found at the site, and people are acting oddly. This is personal for Jake, considering his parents found him as a similar goo glob near their home twelve years earlier and raised him as their very human and totally normal son. As if starting middle school isn’t tough enough when you aren’t an alien, along with his new friend Agnes, Jake must find out what is going on with these sinkholes, why people are acting so weird...and he has to learn how to embrace his own weirdness. This book is laugh out loud clever and so sweet. It’s about the power of kindness and weirdness. It’s about surrounding yourself with people who love you as you are, even if you are an alien/nerd.

-Karen

Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi: Akwaeke Emezi is an absolute powerhouse. In this bold memoir, Emezi splits themself open and pours themself out in exquisite beauty on the page. Like their debut novel, Freshwater (which I highly recommend reading as a companion), this was a book that I immediately wanted to mark up and flag and talk to anyone within earshot about. Written in letters to significant individuals in their life, from their chosen family to Toni Morrison, they challenge every unspoken standard that has arbitrarily been set forth for writers of color, especially trans and non-binary authors. Spanning from their childhood in Nigeria, to college and an MFA in the US, to the release if their debut novel, and to the quick succession of their second and third novels releases, Emezi pulls readers into their world and opens up about the deepest and darkest facets of their life. Their writing is breathtaking even when speaking of the most monstrous facets of life and I cannot wait to read what they write next. -Elisa

The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig (out July 20): With a satisfying mix of Stephen King-esque horror and the mind-bending science fiction plots Wendig’s known for, this book is a dark but shining beacon of deep and twisted storytelling. Long ago, married couple Nathan and Maddie Graves’s small rural Pennsylvania hometown was plagued by a sinister crime wave, and now that they’ve moved back with their teenaged son Oliver, it all seems to be happening again. Not only do Nate, Maddie, and Oliver have to fight to protect their family, they have to battle for their world, the universe, and whatever else of the universe is left. Add to that a gruesome numbers-obsessed serial killer, dark forces unleashing chaos on humanity, and a realistically messy and ultimately beautiful family at the heart of it all. This book reads like horror novels of old, getting creepier and creepier as it unravels, but amidst the harrowing fight between good (albeit imperfect) and evil, this book is about the power and perseverance of love. -Karen