Your PJ Our Way Books for September 2025
PJ Our Way is proud to offer four fantastic books this month! Your reader can save the praying mantises with Evie, learn magic tricks with Ethan, be inspired by union activist Clara, or make breakfast doughnut-bagels with Alley!
Be sure to have your PJ Our Way subscriber choose their book by September 10th!
Trouble Finds Evie Lefkowitz
By: Diana Harmon Asher
Ages 10+
246 pages
Ever since her father died 2.5 years ago, it’s just been Evie and her mom. But now her mom is going on a date with the assistant principal, Evie has to tutor Joey Ceraco (a troublemaker she hasn’t been friends with since kindergarten), and worst of all - she has to start preparing for her bat mitzvah without her father to help her! Thankfully, Evie still has her best friends – Rachel and Spencer – by her side.
When the science class starts a project on praying mantises, Spencer decides that the mantises need to be freed. Rachel and Evie aren’t sure about this plan, but Tommy and Joey want to help. Ultimately, the group decides to save them, but the plan falls apart. As the unlikely friends accept their punishment, find common ground, and support one another through a particularly difficult moment, Evie realizes she is ready to tackle the other significant challenges in her life.
Super Jake and the King of Chaos
By: Naomi Milliner
Ages 10+
288 pages
Eleven-year-old Ethan Miller has two younger brothers: six-year-old Freddy and Jake, who’s almost two and was born with a serious brain injury that has left him unable to move or speak. Ethan loves his family, but the special care and extra attention Jake requires can make life feel unfair. Obsessed with magic, Ethan performs tricks at birthday parties, then learns about a Magic Fest competition that might give him the chance to meet his hero, Magnus the Magician. When Jake becomes sick and is hospitalized, all Ethan’s plans to attend Magic Fest are upended. When Jake’s condition worsens and he’s transferred to Intensive Care, Ethan feels afraid and angry and loses all interest in magic. This engrossing story about a family coping with a child’s disability and illness is ultimately filled with hope and humor; readers will enjoy the appended instructions for five of Ethan’s magic tricks.
She Persisted: Clara Lemlich
By: Deborah Heiligman
Ages 9+
80 pages
This short, illustrated biography explores the life of Clara Lemlich, a Jewish woman born in Ukraine in 1886. After her family moved to the United States, she began working in a shirtwaist factory and was appalled by the conditions. Within a few years, Lemlich had started a union for the workers, and in 1909 she organized the Strike of the Twenty Thousand, the largest strike of women in the United States at that time – most of whom were Yiddish speaking.
Clara’s commitment to social justice and her resilience in the face of multiple setbacks and challenges will inspire young readers. The book ends with a list of ways in which young readers can persist in their own lives.
Alley & Rex: Bite the Bagel
By: Joel Ross
Ages 9+
160 pages
In this sequel to Alley & Rex, sixth-grader Alley Katz is upset when Principal Kugelmeyer closes down the school’s hugely popular breakfast cart due to a lack of funding. Not wanting hungry kids to miss their second (or first) breakfast of the day, Alley decides to create his own incredibly wacky and completely unappetizing doughnut-bagel hybrid. Luckily, some ingenious help from his friends – Mouse, who plays every sport in school, and Chowder, who’s always crushing on a boy or girl – saves the day. Big-hearted Alley is also determined to help his big-brained friend Rex when the gym teacher insists that Rex wear the official gym uniform instead of his usual bunny suit. Energetic illustrations match the tone of this hilarious story about odd-couple friends and how they help one another survive school.
Note: Quantities of each title are limited! If you see another book offered for selection this month, head over to Story Central to check it out.