That’s Debatable by Jen Doll

Title: That’s Debatable
Author: Jen Doll
Publication: Farrar Straus Giroux, hardcover, 2022
Genre: YA
Setting: Present-day Alabama

Description: Millicent Chalmers wanted to be a debater and when her public high school didn’t offer a team, she found an advisor, began competing, and never looked back. Now she’s the best in the state despite the sexism she encounters from judges and fellow competitors.

The Gilded Girl by Alyssa Colman, an alternate version of A Little Princess - with magic

Title: The Gilded Girl
Author: Alyssa Colman
Publication: Farrar Straus Giroux, hardcover, 2021
Genre: Middle-Grade Historical Fantasy
Setting: New York, 1905

Description: Emma Harris is brought to New York by her affluent architect father to attend an exclusive boarding school, Miss Posterity’s Academy for Practical Magic, which teaches well-born twelve-year-olds how to “kindle” or start channeling their magic skills as quasi-adults.