Archives de catégorie : Bologna 2024 Children’s & YA

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE d’Emma Lord

Brimming with Emma Lord’s signature wit, WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE is a flirty and fun coming-of-age story of rivals-to-lovers meets Never Have I Ever.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE
by Emma Lord
Wednesday Books, January 2025

At long last, Sadie has vanquished her lifelong academic rival—her irritatingly charming, whip smart next door neighbor, Seb—by getting the coveted, only spot to her dream college. Or at least, so she thinks. When Seb is unexpectedly pulled off the waitlist and admitted, Sadie has to compete with him all over again, this time to get a spot on the school’s famous zine. Now not only is she dealing with the mayhem of the lovable, chaotic family she hid her writing talents from, as well as her own self doubt, but she has to come to terms with some less-than-resentful feelings for Seb that are popping up along the way. But the longer they compete, the more Sadie and Seb notice flaws in the school’s system that are much bigger than any competition between them. Somehow the two of them have to band together even as they’re trying to crush each other, only to discover they may have met their match in more ways than one.

Emma Lord (she/her) is a digital media editor and writer living in New York City, where she spends whatever time she isn’t writing either running or belting show tunes in community theater. She graduated from the University of Virginia with a major in psychology and a minor in how to tilt your computer screen so nobody will notice you updating your fan fiction from the back row. She was raised on glitter, a whole lot of love, and copious amounts of grilled cheese. Her books include Tweet Cute, You Have a Match, and When You Get the Chance.

RIVER OF SPIRITS de Shana Targosz

In her beautifully written and fiercely imaginative middle-grade novel, debut author Shana Targosz delivers an utterly original take on Greek mythology that’s a tale of friendship, sacrifice, and an incredibly nuanced portrayal of grief for a younger audience.

RIVER OF SPIRITS
(THE UNDERWILD, Book 1)
by Shana Targosz
Simon & Schuster, Spring 2025
(via Writers House)

Senka lives between the realm of the Living and the realm of the Dead. As ward to Charon, the Ferryer of the Underworld, Senka assists Charon in ferrying recently departed souls across the river and into their afterlife. Although Charon has mentored her, and messenger-raven and tutor Mortimer has taught Senka a bit about the realm of the Living, there’s so much about the Underworld Charon has been keeping from her. Senka knows Charon forbids her from straying too far from their home (it’s Rule number five in the Rules for Ferryers, after all), and though she doesn’t understand why, she listens—there is nothing she wants more than to prove she can be a model Ferryer.

When a young boy’s soul gets yanked away by the river’s current, and when the boy’s living sister, Poppy, arrives in the Underworld and pleads for Senka’s help to find him, Senka is literally dragged downriver, far from everything she’s ever known. Lost in the Underworld, Senka and Poppy encounter malevolent spirits of lore and eccentric ghosts—and not all are willing to let souls slip through their grasp.

But the Living can’t stay in the realm of the Dead for long, and there are only three days until Poppy’s soul will also become lost to the Underworld. Senka must utilize everything she has learned in order to save Poppy from a fate worse than death. As Poppy and Senka dodge angry demigods, hungry wraiths, tricksy shape-shifters, and terrifying dragon chimera, Senka gets closer and closer to learning the truth of her own past. Soon, Senka won’t just need to save Poppy’s life—she’ll also need to save her own. . .

Shana Targosz is an Oregon Literary Fellow and the recipient of the Edna L. Holmes Fellowship for Young Readers. An alumni of Author Mentor Match (#AMM), she is a former Pitch Wars mentor and current AMM mentor, and has been a guest host on Grace Lin’s #kidlitwomen podcast.

ELENA RIDES et ELENA CAMPS de Juana Medina

Beginning readers—and beginning riders—will be drawn to this bright, buoyant story of a determined elephant and her loyal sidekick, from the award-winning creator of Juana & Lucas. The first in an early reader series.

ELENA RIDES et ELENA CAMPS
by Juana Medina
Candlewick, 2023 – 2025
(via Gillian MacKenzie Agency)

ELENA RIDES (March 2023)

Elena wants to ride her bike. She steadies, she readies. She wobbles, she bobbles . . . KA-BANG! Learning to ride a bike is hard. But Elena can do it. She just has to try, try again. With this reassuring story of childlike persistence, Juana Medina, creator of the acclaimed Juana & Lucas series, introduces Elena, a plucky elephant, and the little red bird who is Elena’s faithful cheerleader. Simple, energetic text and bold, brilliant artwork convey a relatable tale of the ups and downs of learning something new (not without protest or tears) and the final thrill of mastery that will have children rooting for Elena and ready for her next adventure.

ELENA CAMPS (Spring 2025)

The second in a series starring a plucky young elephant accompanied by her sidekick humorously learning a new skill and navigating emotions.

“She’s eager, she’s resilient, she has a two-wheeler and a red feathered friend—but Elena, the enthusiastic purple elephant star of this early reader, still has a ways to go to polish her cycling skills. . . . Medina captures substantial emotional highs and lows in this inspiring tale of persistence, one that’s just right for those taking on another learning curve: reading.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Spare but engaging prose that includes just a few words or simple sentences per page effectively captures the experience of learning to ride. . . Elena’s persistence offers an important message to anyone attempting to master a new skill, including those just learning to read. . . . This cheerful story with colorful illustrations will appeal to new readers and to parents looking for a read-aloud about perseverance.” —School Library Journal (starred review)

“Storytime listeners will be enthralled. . . . Sensational for reading aloud, with dramatic onomatopoeic opportunities aplenty.” —Kirkus Reviews

Juana Medina is the Pura Belpré Author Award–winning creator of the Juana & Lucas series and other books for children and the recipient of two International Latino Book Awards. She has also illustrated several books by other writers, including ’Twas the Night Before Pride by Joanna McClintick. Juana Medina was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia, and currently lives in Northern Virginia with her family.

RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW de Shannon Dunlap

Two teens process grief, loss, and life across multiple universes in this story of love, friendship, and possibility perfect for fans of You’ve Reached Sam.

RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW
by Shannon Dunlap
Poppy/Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, April 2024
(via Levine Greenberg Rostan Literary)

Worlds turn. Particles spin. Love endures.

There are infinite universes in which Elise never dies. Her best friend, Anna, never has to mourn her or choose between the weight of her grief and the weight of her ambition. Her cousin, Liam, never has to lose another loved one or fight to find purpose in a life that already doesn’t feel like his own.

But Liam and Anna do not get to choose the universe in which they live. Across multiple worlds, their paths collide as they wrestle with what it takes to save someone else and how to face love and loss on a quantum scale.

This moving, lyrical novel introduces two teens on the cusp of finding out who they are while finding each other again and again.

Shannon Dunlap is a graduate of the MFA program at New York University. Previously, she was a weekly columnist for the Phnom Penh Post and her work appears in the anthology How Does One Dress to Buy Dragonfruit?: True Stories of Expat Women in Asia (Signal 8 Press). She is also the author of Izzy + Tristan. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband and children.

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB de Margot Harrison

Four friends solve the decades-old murder of their best friend with the help of a drug that can not only bring them back to the past, but change it.

THE MIDNIGHT CLUB
by Margot Harrison
Graydon House/HarperCollins, September 2024
(via Context Literary Agency)

“How could you leave the past undisturbed when it was hiding parts of you from yourself?”

It’s been twenty-five years since The Midnight Club last convened. A tight-knit group of college friends bonded by late nights at the campus literary magazine, they’re also bonded by something darker: the death of their brilliant friend Jennet junior year. But now, decades later, a mysterious invitation has pulled them back to the pine-shrouded Vermont town where it all began.

As the estranged friends gather for a weeklong campus reunion, they soon learn that their host has an ulterior motive: she wants them to uncover the truth about the night Jennet died, and she’s provided them with an extraordinary method—a secret substance that helps them not only remember but relive the past.

But each one of the friends has something to hide. And the more they question each other, the deeper they dive into their own memories, the more they understand that nothing they thought they knew about their college years, and that fateful night, is true.

The Midnight Club explores that innate desire to revisit our first loves, our biggest mistakes, and the gulf between who we are and who we hoped we’d be.

“A strange, riveting, brilliant fable. Like a fever-dream of Donna Tartt’s The Secret History.” —Lev Grossman, New York Times bestselling author of The Magicians

“I devoured THE MIDNIGHT CLUB. It’s a smart, surprising, and gripping mystery about the reality that we can’t change who we were back in college, but we’d all be a lot better off if we could. And, for the characters in this fine novel, one of them might even still be alive.” —Chris Bohjalian, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Flight Attendant

Margot Harrison is the author of four young adult novels, including an Indies Introduce Pick, Junior Library Guild Selections, and Vermont Book Award Finalists. She grew up in New York and now lives in Vermont. THE MIDNIGHT CLUB is her debut adult novel.