Archives de catégorie : Bologna 2024 Children’s & YA

UNDER THE SURFACE de Diana Urban

A twisty survival-thriller set in the catacombs of Paris from rising YA star, Diana Urban, perfect for fans of Natalie D. Richards, Stephanie Perkins, and Jessica Goodman.

UNDER THE SURFACE
by Diana Urban
Razorbil, August 2024
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Ruby has always dreamed of her senior class trip to Paris and is dead set on capturing original content for her travel YouTube channel while abroad. Bonus? It means she will get to spend more time with her crush/video editor Sean.

After a calm first night, Ruby’s best friend Val convinces Ruby and two other girls—including Ruby’s ex best friend and current nemesis—to sneak out of the hotel and attend a once-in-a-lifetime party with a sexy new Parisian friend, within the catacombs, the dark uncharted maze of bones beneath the streets of the City of Light.

As the group travels the miles of twisted tunnels, the eternal resting place to countless, anonymous souls, it becomes clear: they’re hopelessly lost. The deeper they venture, the darker the secrets revealed about the catacombs become. But Ruby’s biggest problem may not be the strange noises coming from those dark narrow halls or the bones of the dead fortifying the walls but instead the people she thought she could trust the most.

Diana Urban is an author of dark, twisty thrillers, including All Your Twisted Secrets (HarperTeen) and These Deadly Games (Wednesday Books, 2022). When she’s not torturing fictional characters, she works in digital marketing for startups. She lives with her husband and cat in Boston and enjoys reading, playing video games, fawning over cute animals, and looking at the beach from a safe distance.

NOSE TO NOSE de Thyra Heder

From the critically acclaimed author-illustrator of Alfie, Thyra Heder’s NOSE TO NOSE is an insightful and hilarious picture book about trying to make new friends as the new dog in town and the courage it takes to face a problem “nose to nose”.

NOSE TO NOSE
by Thyra Heder
BYR/Abrams, September 2024

Toby is the new dog on the block, and he can’t wait to meet his neighbors. But his attempts to make friends go largely un-sniffed by his busy neighborhood, and Toby finds being new isn’t so easy. At least he finds a nice, smelly ball at the park. There’s just one problem: The ball actually belongs to another pup, Pancake, who desperately wants it back.

Toby tries his best to explain his mistake, but when his messages get misunderstood, the neighborhood rumors fly: Toby is a bad dog! Beware! Toby doesn’t know if he’ll ever make a friend, but hopefully by being brave and taking a chance, he can make things right.

This pooch-filled story by critically acclaimed author Thyra Heder playfully unveils the currents of communication happening all around us and champions the courage it takes to confront a problem “nose to nose.”

Thyra Heder is the author and illustrator of Sal Boat, Fraidyzoo, The Bear Report, Alfie, and How Do You Dance?. She is also a scenic designer and storyboard artist for film and advertising. She lives in Brooklyn.

THE GHOSTKEEPER de Johanna Taylor

For fans of Lockwood & Co and The Haunting of Hill House.

THE GHOSTKEEPER
by Johanna Taylor
Putnam BYR, July 2024
(via KT Literary)

Dorian Leith can see ghosts. Not only that, he listens to their problems and tries to help them move on to the afterlife. It’s a gift that’s made him an outcast to everyone in town. That is except for his dearly departed grandmother, who he’s partnered with to turn this paranormal ability into an honest living, and the local bookshop owner, who seems to be the only non-deceased person willing to give him a chance. But it’s all worth it to Dorian, who feels like he’s been given a bigger purpose. A chance to save those who cannot save themselves.

Then one day, the key to Death’s Door is stolen, trapping all the ghosts in the land of the living. Since he’s only one who can see them, the spirits rely on Dorian to retrieve the key before it is too late. If they can’t move on, they’ll soon be consumed by a ghostly rot that has begun to plague them.

Johanna Taylor is an American freelance illustrator, concept artist with a BFA in Animation. THE GHOSTKEEPER is her debut.

FINDING THINGS de Kevin Henkes, illustré par Laura Dronzek

From bestselling husband and wife team Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek.

FINDING THINGS
by Kevin Henkes, illustrated by Laura Dronzek
Greenwillow Books, April 2024

If you were on a walk and found a ball, you could take it home and play with it. You are likely to find many other wonderful things as you explore the world—maybe even a new friend—and that makes you very lucky.

Award-winning creators Kevin Henkes and Laura Dronzek’s collaborations are always exceptional; full of vivid and deceptively simple observations of the world around us. FINDING THINGS features a succinct text and exquisite, emotionally rich illustrations, and it encourages readers to be creative and to find purpose and connections in what surrounds them. A terrific read-aloud to treasure and share, as well as a great title for visual literacy and emerging readers, Finding Things is also a wonderful choice for social and emotional learning.

Kevin Henkes has been praised both as a writer and as an illustrator and is the recipient of the Children’s Literature Legacy Award for his lasting contribution to literature for children. He received the Caldecott Medal for Kitten’s First Full Moon; Caldecott Honors for Waiting and Owen; two Newbery Honors—one for Olive’s Ocean and one for The Year of Billy Miller—and Geisel Honors for Waiting and Penny and Her Marble. His other books include Sun Flower Lion, A Parade of Elephants, Chrysanthemum, and the beloved Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse. Kevin Henkes lives with his family in a house in Madison, Wisconsin.

Laura Dronzek is a painter whose work has been exhibited nationally. Her picture books include Moonlight, by Helen V. Griffith; It Is Night, by Phyllis Rowand; White Is for Blueberry, by George Shannon; Little Houses, by Kevin Henkes; and a quartet of seasonal picture books also by Kevin Henkes. She lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

WESTFALLEN d’Ann Brashares et Ben Brashares

A mind-bending, time-warp, action-packed new middle-grade trilogy from #1 New York Times bestselling Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants author Ann Brashares and her brother Ben Brashares! Six well-meaning kids change the course of history in the worst possible way, in a thrilling new story that asks what life would be like today had Germany won World War II. Welcome to WESTFALLEN!

WESTFALLEN
by Ann Brashares and Ben Brashares
Simon & Schuster, September 2024
(via Writers House)

Henry, Frances, and Lukas are neighbours, and they used to be best friends. But in middle school Frances became too cool, Lukas got into baseball, and Henry just felt left behind. When a dead gerbil brings them together again for a pet funeral, the three ex-friends make a mind-blowing discovery: a radio, buried in Henry’s backyard, that allows them to talk to another group of kids in the same town . . . in the same backyard . . . eighty years in the past.

The kids in 1944 want to know about the future: are there jetpacks? Laser guns? Is there teleportation? Most of all, they want to know about the outcome of the world war their dad and brothers are fighting in. Henry is cautious—he’s seen movies about what happens when you disrupt the fabric of time—but figures there’s no harm in telling them a little bit. And, at first, nothing changes—well, nothing big, anyway.

Until one conversation between the new friends changes history in the biggest way possible. And now it’s up to Henry, Frances, and Lukas to change it back.

Ann Brashares is the author of the global phenomenon Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, as well as several other novels. Before becoming a writer, she was a student of philosophy, a receptionist, an editor, a ghostwriter, and, briefly, the copresident of a small media company.

Ben Brashares is the author of Being Edie Is Hard Today and The Great Whipplethorp Bug Collection. He holds an MFA in creative writing and has worked at and written for several magazines, including Rolling Stone, Men’s Journal, and Entertainment Weekly.