Archives de catégorie : Bologna 2022 Children’s & YA

WILD IS THE WITCH de Rachel Griffin

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches, comes another high-stakes contemporary fantasy. When eighteen-year-old witch Iris Gray accidentally enacts a curse that could have dire consequences, she must team up with a boy who hates witches to make sure her magic isn’t unleashed on the world.

WILD IS THE WITCH
by Rachel Griffin
Sourcebooks, August 2022
(via Laura Dail Literary)

Iris Gray knows witches aren’t welcome in most towns. When she was forced to leave her last home, she left behind a father who was no longer willing to start over. And while the Witches’ Council was lenient in their punishment, Iris knows they’re keeping tabs on her. Now settled in Washington, Iris never lets anyone see who she really is; instead, she vents her frustrations by writing curses she never intends to cast. Otherwise, she spends her days at the wildlife refuge which would be the perfect job if not for Pike Alder, the witch-hating aspiring ornithologist who interns with them.
Iris concocts the perfect curse for Pike: one that will turn him into a witch. But just as she’s about to dispel it, a bird swoops down and steals the curse before flying away. If the bird dies, the curse will be unleashed―and the bird is a powerful amplifier, and unleashing the curse would turn not just Pike, but everyone in the region, into a witch.
New witches have no idea how to control their magic and the consequences would be dire. And the Witches’ Council does not look kindly on multiple offenses; if they found out, Iris could be stripped of her magic for good. Iris begs Pike to help her track the bird, and they set out on a trek through the Pacific Northwest looking for a single bird that could destroy everything.

Rachel Griffin is the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Witches. When she isn’t writing, you can find her wandering the Pacific Northwest, reading by the fire, or drinking copious amounts of coffee and tea. She lives in the Seattle area with her husband, dog, and growing collection of houseplants.

HEX ALLEN AND THE CLANKSMITHS de Jasmin Florentine & Ebony Glenn

STEM meets magic in this new middle-grade adventure series from an MIT graduate.

HEX ALLEN AND THE CLANKSMITHS
by Jasmin Florentine
illustrated by Ebony Glenn
Innovation Press, October 2022
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

Hex Allen can’t do magic—a huge problem when everything from lights to locks is powered by simple spells that everyone (save a few unfortunate “undevelopeds”) can do. After years of feeling useless, Hex sees opportunity to change her future when a once-in-a-century opportunity to journey to the Wishing Wyrm, a legendary dragon that has the ability to grant a single wish, opens up. Unfortunately, Hex isn’t the only one after the wish, and every rival wish hunter has magic on their side. Every rival except the Clanksmiths, Cam and Fuse. Like Hex, they can’t do magic, but they’ve learned to build clank, creations made using the mysterious, forgotten arts of science and engineering.
After a fairy fiasco throws Hex and the Clanksmiths together, they agree to cooperate—for the time being. With the Clanksmiths’ know-how and Hex’s creativity, they outsmart monsters with everything from LEDs to electromagnets to water balloon launchers. But as they race to the Wishing Wyrm, Hex must decide between her friendship with the Clanksmiths and the wish that would give her a normal, magical life.
Pages from Hex’s design notebook provide step-by-step project instructions for aspiring Clanksmiths.

Jasmine Florentine likes to make stuff. In the past, this has encompassed everything from designing games for robots, building a milk dehydrator, drawing cartoons, and most recently, writing a book. She has a BS and an MS from MIT in Mechanical Engineering, and is passionate about showing everyone how amazing STEM is. HEX ALLEN AND THE CLANKSMITHS is her first book.
Ebony Glenn is a children’s book illustrator who enjoys bringing stories to life with whimsical and expressive imagery. A passion for the arts, great storytelling, and advocating for more diverse narratives in children’s books, she aims to create art that will foster a love of reading in young readers.

ZOEY AND SASSAFRAS d’Asia Citro & Marion Lindsay

With magical animals, science, mystery, and adventure—the ZOEY AND SASSAFRAS series has something for everyone! Easy-to-read language and illustrations on nearly every page make this series perfect for a wide range of ages. These plot-driven early chapter books boast 13 to 18 quick chapters and a glossary of scientific words.

ZOEY AND SASSAFRAS SERIES
by Asia Citro
illustrated by Marion Lindsay
‎ The Innovation Press, 2017-2021
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

Follow the adventures of Zoey and her cat Sassafras! Each of the nine stories in the Zoey and Sassafras series features a new magical animal with a problem that must be solved using science. There isn’t a set formula for each book; Zoey sometimes needs to run experiments, while other times she needs to investigate a mystery, and yet other times she needs to do research. Zoey models how to keep a science journal through her handwritten entries in each story. Each story is complete with a glossary of the kid-friendly definitions for scientific terms used.

In the first book of this series, Zoey discovers a glowing photo and learns an amazing secret. Injured magical animals come to their backyard barn for help! When a sick baby dragon appears, it’s up to Zoey and Sassafras to figure out what’s wrong. Will they be able to help little Marshmallow before it’s too late?

2018 Washington State Book Award for Young Readers Winner
• A New York Public Library Best Books for Kids 2017 Selection
• A Mighty Girl Book of the Year
• Illinois Monarch Award Nominee 2018-2019
• Florida SSYRA Book Award Nominee 2018-2019
• Washington OTTER Award Nominee 2018-2019
• **1 million books sold**

Concepts are explained concisely and clearly, and a short glossary provides valuable vocabulary building. The slightly larger font makes the text inviting for emerging readers, and the illustrations blend perfectly into the story. Sassafras and the dragon prove to be able sidekicks in the vein of Disney characters…while this book is a natural fit for STEM collections, it deserves a place in all libraries serving young readers.” School Library Journal

…the imaginative premise and the incorporation of STEM elements make this an attractive and engaging choice…” Booklist

Citro gracefully balances her story’s scientific and fantasy elements.” —Publishers Weekly

Asia Citro has an M.Ed in Science Education and was a classroom science teacher for many years before deciding to stay home full time after the birth of her daughter. She lives near Seattle with her wonderful husband, two awesome children, two destructive cats, and a terrarium of happy bugs. She is the author of 150+ Screen-Free Activities for Kids, The Curious Kid’s Science Book, A Little Bit of Dirt, Vroom Vroom Garbage Truck, and Pigeon Math. Her work has been featured on Apartment Therapy, The Chicago Tribune, Today, Disney Baby, MSN, King 5 TV, New Day Northwest, and Highlights, among others.
Marion Lindsay has always loved stories and pictures, so it made perfect sense when she decided to become a children’s book illustrator. She has been awarded the Egmont Best New Talent Award. When she’s not illustrating children’s books, Marion paints glass and makes jewelry. Find out more at marionlindsay.co.uk. Marion lives and works in Gloucestershire, England.

THE ELEPHANT GIRL de James Patterson & Ellen Banda-Aaku

James Patterson and award-winning author Ellen Banda-Aaku deliver an unforgettable story of a girl, an elephant, and their life-changing friendship.

THE ELEPHANT GIRL
by James Patterson & Ellen Banda-Aaku
‎ JIMMY Patterson/Little, Brown, July 2022
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

Clever, sensitive Jama likes elephants better than people. While her classmates gossip—especially about the new boy, Leku—twelve-year-old Jama takes refuge at the watering hole outside her village. There she befriends a baby elephant she names Mbegu, Swahili for seed. When Mbegu’s mother, frightened by poachers, stampedes, Jama and Mbegu are blamed for two deaths—one elephant and one human. Now Leku, whose mysterious and imposing father is head ranger at the conservancy, may be their only lifeline.
Inspired by true events, THE ELEPHANT GIRL is a moving exploration of the bonds between creatures and the power of belonging.

James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author. The creator of Max Einstein and Middle School, he founded JIMMY Patterson to publish books that young readers will love. He lives in Florida with his family.
Ellen Banda-Aaku is an award-winning author and producer. She has lived, studied, and worked in Ghana, South Africa, and Zambia, and currently lives in the UK with her two children.

SERWA BOATENG’S GUIDE TO VAMPIRE HUNTING de Roseanne A. Brown

Best-selling author Rick Riordan presents best-selling YA author Roseanne A. Brown’s middle-grade debut about a pre-teen vampire slayer with a strong helping of Ghanaian folklore.

SERWA BOATENG’S GUIDE TO VAMPIRE HUNTING
(Rick Riordan Presents)
by Roseanne A. Brown
‎ Disney-Hyperion, September 2022
(via Kaplan/DeFiore Rights)

For most kids, catching fireflies is a fun summer activity. For twelve-year-old Serwa Boateng, it’s a matter of life and death. That’s because Serwa knows that some fireflies are really adze, shapeshifting vampires from the forests of Southeastern Ghana. Adze prey on the blood of innocents, possessing their minds and turning them into hulking monsters, and for generations, slayers like Serwa and her parents have protected an unknowing public from their threats.
Serwa is the best adze slayer her age, and she knew how to use a crossbow before she could even ride a bike. But when an obayifo (witch) destroys her childhood home while searching for a drum, do Serwa’s parents take her with them on their quest to defeat her? No. Instead, they dump Serwa with her hippie aunt and cryptic-obsessed cousin in the middle of Nowheresville, Maryland « for her own safety. » Now, instead of crossbows and battle armor, she’s dealing with mean girls and algebra, and for the first time in her life she doesn’t have to carry a staff everywhere she goes, which is . . . kind of nice, actually.
Just as Serwa starts to get the hang of this whole normal girl who doesn’t punch vampires every day thing, an adze infiltrates her school. It’s up to her to whip some of her classmates into monster-fighting shape before all of them become firefly food. And when she uncovers a secret that upends everything she thought she knew about her family’s role in the slayer vs. adze war, Serwa will have to decide which side of herself—normal girl or slayer—is the right one.
After all, seventh grade is hard enough without adding vampires to the mix.

Roseanne « Rosie » A. Brown was born in Kumasi, Ghana and immigrated to the wild jungles of central Maryland as a child. Writing was her first love, and she knew from a young age that she wanted to use the power of writing to connect the different cultures she called home. She worked as an assistant teacher, journalist, and editorial intern before writing her first two young adult novels, A Song of Wraiths and Ruin, an instant New York Times best-seller, and A Psalm of Storms and Silence. Rosie currently lives outside Washington, D.C., where she can usually be found explaining memes to her elderly relatives or thinking about Star Wars. She can neither confirm nor deny if she has ever been possessed by a vampire.