Donna Barba

What makes a stellar mystery triumph where others fail? It happens when adventure, suspense, and logic combine with wit and curiosity. Albert Einstein encouraged people to raise questions because curiosity is fundamental to creativity and critical thinking. Successful detectives are those who reflect, question, and challenge the status quo. Mystery as a genre includes suspects, red herrings, code-breaking, deductive reasoning, and problem-solving as elemental to the story structure.

. Oct. 2025. 48p. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781546147558. K-Gr 3 COPY ISBN K-Gr 3–Ingrid, a black lab puppy who becomes a guide dog for the visually impaired, narrates the book. Readers may be puzzled as to why Ingrid repeatedly claims to be the “smartest and most important dog ever,” because although all guide dogs are undoubtedly special, there’s nothing particularly so about Ingrid compared to others. She is written without weakness.

. Nov. 2025. 336p. Tr $20.99. ISBN 9781250865816. Gr 9 Up COPY ISBN Gr 9 Up–In this stand-alone follow-up to Gorgeous Gruesome Faces, 17-year-old Tian is a livestreaming musician with a massive online following in East Asia; what her adoring fans don’t know is how isolated she is. Since her mom’s tragic death, she lives under Auntie Chu’s strict rules with her protective childhood friend Liya in a mansion she’s never allowed to leave.