While summer blockbuster plans may be canceled due to the ongoing pandemic, middle grade and teen readers can still get their fix of movie magic with these recent and upcoming fiction and nonfiction titles featuring young women working in front of and behind the camera.

Any Day with You

by Mae Respicio (Random House/Wendy Lamb, May 5, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-525-70757-8). Ages 8–12)

In this standalone from the author of The House That Lou Built, 12-year-old special-effects makeup artist Kaia endeavors to win a film competition with her friends, inspired by the Filipino folktales her great-grandfather tells. Read our full review.

Beauty Mark: A Verse Novel of Marilyn Monroe

By Carole Boston Weatherford (Candlewick, Sept. 8, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5362-0629-6), Ages 14 and up.

In verse, Weatherford tells the film and pop culture icon’s story, beginning with her traumatic early life through her rise to stardom and eventual downfall, stopping just short of her death.

Chasing Starlight

by Teri Bailey Black (Tor Teen, Aug. 11, $17.99, ISBN 978-0-7653-9951-96). Ages 13–18

Set in 1938, the Golden Age of Hollywood, this murder mystery follows Kate, who has moved in with her washed-up silent film star grandfather. When she walks into a real-life murder scene, she must investigate while working on the set of a musical. Read our full review.

Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen

by Anne Nesbet (Candlewick, Apr. 14, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-5362-0619-7). Ages 8–12

Twelve-year old Darleen Darling, known as “Daring Darleen” to fans of her silent film adventure serials, finds herself in the hands of criminals along with the young heiress to one of America’s largest fortunes in this swashbuckling tale set in 1914 Fort Lee, N.J. Read our full starred review.

The Nerviest Girl in the World

by Melissa Wiley (Knopf, Aug. 18, $16.99, ISBN978-0-375-87038-5). Ages 8–12

Taking place during the early days of silent film, this story follows Pearl, a girl from a family of ranchers whose brothers perform as the Daredevil Donnelly Brothers, a Death-Defying Cowboy trio, and who secretly begins working as a stunt girl and dreams of becoming a star herself. Read our full review.

Sarah Bernhardt: The Divine and Dazzling Life of the World's First Superstar

by Catherine Reef (Clarion, June 16, $18.99, ISBN978-1-328-55750-6). Ages 12 and up.

In this biography, actress Sarah Bernhardt’s unconventional life—which included eccentricities such as living with exotic animals and sleeping in a coffin—is chronicled, following her rise from courtesan to French stage actor to international fame in the late 19th-century. Read our full review.