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A SITTING IN ST. JAMES de Rita Williams-Garcia

This outstanding novel about the interwoven lives of those bound to a plantation in antebellum America is an epic masterwork—empathetic, brutal, and entirely human.

A SITTING IN ST. JAMES
by Rita Williams-Garcia
Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins Children’s, May 2021
Ages 14 +

1860, Louisiana. After serving as mistress of Le Petit Cottage for more than six decades, Madame Sylvie Guilberthas decided, in spite of her family’s indifference, to sit for a portrait—a testament to all the hardships she has overcome, and the glory that her life ought to have had. But there are other important stories to be told on the Guilbert plantation. Like that of Thisbe, the young enslaved woman who must stand silent by her mistress, but who observes everything. Or Byron, the heir to the plantation, whose desires cannot possibly fit with his family duty. Stories that span generations, from the big house to out in the fields, of routine horrors, secrets buried as deep as the family fortune, and a tangled lineage of descendants and dependents who have never forgotten who they are.
A complicated, ugly, yet empathetic portrayal of the period: This is not a whitewashed account of slavery; though never gratuitous, the narrative does not shy away from the horrors that occur on the Guilbertplantation. Yet every character is portrayed with empathy and humanization, in all their complications—both the enslaved and the slave owners. It’s a fine balance to strike, but Rita Williams-Garcia does it masterfully.

Rita Williams-Garcia’s Newbery Honor Book, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The two sequels, P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama, were both Coretta Scott King Author Award winners and ALA Notable Children’s Books. She is also the author of National Book Award finalist Clayton Byrd Goes Underground and six distinguished novels for young adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here, Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book), Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); Blue Tights; and Like Sisters on the Homefront, a Coretta Scott King Honor Book. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York.

BLACK STAR d’Eric Glover, illustré par Arielle Jovellanos

Stranded on an alien planet, two astronauts must battle deadly elements and each other to recover a reserve shuttle built for one.

BLACK STAR
by Eric Glover, illustrated by Arielle Jovellanos
Abrams Comicarts, May 2021 (voir catalogue)

In the future, interstellar travel is a life–threatening gamble. However, in order to retrieve samples of an alien flower that may hold the key to saving countless lives, Harper North and her crew of scientists must journey to Eleos, a dangerous planet in deep space. But as they approach Eleos, their ship is caught in an asteroid storm and as it hurtles towards the surface, its reserve shuttle detaches, landing over 100 kilometers away. When the rest of the crew perishes in the burning wreckage of the ship, North races towards the rescue shuttle built for one, hoping to fulfll their mission and survive. But North isn’t alone: The team’s wilderness expert is still alive and hell–bent on hunting North down and claiming the shuttle for herself. Now, North has no choice but to reach the shuttle frst—and fast. The fuel is leaking. Her GPS battery is dying. And the planet’s deadly seasonal change is coming. As she battles the flora and fauna and tries to elude her ruthless former crew mate, North will fnd the cost of survival is dear . . . Will she be willing to pay that price?

Eric Anthony Glover studied screenwriting at Sarah Lawrence College and studied feature and television writing as a 2016 Final Draft Big Break Fellow in Burbank, California. Glover is committed to writing about underrepresented groups and hopes to make the world a better place with this work.
Arielle Jovellanos is a New York–based freelance illustrator, writer, and comic artist. Her work has been featured in the Eisner and Harvey–nominated anthology Fresh Romance and in magazines, comics, books, and branded social media campaigns. Recently, Jovellanos illustrated the book Fierce Heroines: Inspiring Female Characters of Pop Culture for Running Press Kids.

LITTLE SAP de Jan Hugues, illustré par Ruth Hengeveld

A little tree, guided by her family circle and forest friends, can’t wait to grow tall and strong.

LITTLE SAP: The Magical Story of a Forest Family
by Jan Hugues, illustrated by Ruth Hengeveld
Cameron Kids/Abrams, October 2021 (voir catalogue)

Little Sap can’t wait to grow tall and strong just like her mother and touch the sky. But growing takes time. Luckily for Little Sap, she has her family circle close by and a forest of friends, above and below ground, to help guide her up.

Jan Hughes is a longtime Bay Area editor and writer. This is her first, and hopefully not last, picture book. She lives with her husband and son in San Francisco and is passionate about all things trees.
Ruth Hengeveld is an illustrator and fine artist who lives in the Netherlands. She is an avid hiker, camper, and nature lover who spent time among the old-growth redwood forests of Northern California’s Muir Woods in preparation for this book. She is the illustrator of Oh, Bear, also published by Cameron Kids.

THIRTY TO SIXTY DAYS de Alikay Wood

Contagion meets Five Feet Apart. When a plane crashes in a tourist town in Florida, three teens who were exposed to a rare virus are given thirty to sixty days to live.

THIRTY TO SIXTY DAYS
by Alikay Wood
Amulet Books/Abrams, October 2021 (voir catalogue)

When a plane commissioned by the CDC to transport a newly identifed virus to a testing facility for early vaccine development crashes in a lake community just outside Touristville, Florida, three teens—previously unknown to one another—accidentally ingest tainted water and are told they have 30–60 days to live. Albie is 16 years old and the glue for his crumbling family. Cameron has dreamed of getting out of Touristville, Florida for as long as her parents made her join a vaudeville act at the tender age of fve. But it’s Lacey—sweet, angelic, full–of–shit Lacey—who has the idea to start a support group. It’s also Lacey who fleeces Albie and Cameron out of fifteen bucks per session. So when Cameron and Albie catch Lacey conning a tourist into letting her “borrow” a yacht, they know she has no intention of returning it. And they have every intention of joining her. When three teens on the brink of death form an unlikely alliance, how do they react? For starters, they steal a yacht. And then they have one of the best adventures of their lives: an adventure that results in a true reckoning with who they really are. Will Albie learn to come out of his shell and truly experience life for the first time? Will running away force Cameron to grapple with a repressed secret that’s made her restless for years? And when—in the end— they discover their lives are not over, how will Lacey reckon with the fallout of her lies? This coming–of–age–tale set on a yacht examines the ways three very different teens grapple with the threat of imminent death, and how each emerges with very different ideas of what life ought to be.

Alikay Wood is a debut author who is a digital editor by day and a mentor for Girls Write Now. She lives and writes in New York City.

THE FOLLOWER de Kate Doughty

A spine-tingling YA thriller, based on a still-unfolding true story

THE FOLLOWER
by Kate Doughty
Amulet Books/Abrams, March 2021 (voir catalogue)

Instagram-famous triplets Cecily, Amber, and Rudy—the children of home renovation superstars—are ready for a perfect summer. They’ve just moved into the site of their parents’ latest renovation project when they begin to receive chilling messages from someone called The Follower. It soon becomes clear that this anonymous threat is more than a simple Internet troll, and he can’t wait to shatter the Cole family’s perfect veneer and take back what’s his. THE FOLLOWER examines the implications of what it is to be watched in the era of social media fame—as well as the lies we tell and the lengths we’ll go to uphold a perfect image, when our lives depend on it.

Kate Doughty graduated from the University of Virginia in May 2018 with a dual major in English and psychology. She lives and works in Washington, DC. THE FOLLOWER is her first novel.