Archives de catégorie : Children’s Books

THE GREATEST SUPERPOWER d’Alex Sanchez

As summer draws to a close, 13-year-old Jorge wants nothing more than to spend his days hanging out with his fellow comic book-obsessed friends. But then his parents announce they’re divorcing for a reason Jorge and his twin brother never saw coming—their father comes out as transgender.

THE GREATEST SUPERPOWER
by Alex Sanchez
Capstone, February 2021
(chez DeFiore and Co. –
voir catalogue)

It’s the summer before high school, and thirteen-year-old Jorge Fuerte wants nothing more than to spend his days hanging out with his fellow comic-book-obsessed friends. But then everything changes. His parents announce they’re divorcing for a reason Jorge and his twin brother, Cesar, never saw coming–their larger-than-life dad comes out as transgender. Jorge struggles to understand the father he’s always admired, but Cesar refuses to have anything to do with him. As Jorge tries to find a way to stay true to the father he loves, a new girl moves into the neighborhood: cool, confident, quirky Zoey. She tames Jorge’s unruly terrier and enlists the terrier and Jorge in a dance routine for the back-to-school talent show. As the date of the show draws near, Jorge must face his fears and choose between being loyal to his brother or truthful about his family’s secret. Although he’s no superhero, Jorge already has the world’s greatest superpower–if he decides to use it.

Alex Sanchez has published nine novels, including the American Library Association “Best Book for Young Adults” Rainbow Boys, the Lambda Award-winning So Hard to Say, and Bait, which won the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Book Award. His graphic novel for DC Comics titled You Brought Me the Ocean came out in June 2020. An immigrant to the U.S. from Mexico, Alex received his master’s in guidance and counseling and worked for many years as a youth and family counselor. He lives in East Rochester, New York.

CUT OFF d’Adrianne Finlay

Warcross meets Lost in this haunting young adult sci-fi thriller in which teens compete to survive in the wilderness for one million dollars on a new virtual reality show. When something goes horribly wrong and the contestants realize no one is coming to save them, they must question their very reality—and how much of the game is really for show.

CUT OFF
by Adrianne Finlay
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers, August 2020
(chez DeFiore and Co. –
voir catalogue)

Each contestant has their own reasons—and their own secrets—for joining the new virtual reality show CUT/OFF that places a group of teenagers alone in the wilderness. It’s a simple premise: whoever lasts the longest without “tapping out” wins a cash prize. Not only that, new software creates a totally unprecedented television experience, allowing viewers to touch, see, and live everything along with the contestants. But what happens when “tapping out” doesn’t work and no one comes to save you? What happens when the whole world seemingly disappears while you’re stranded in the wild? Four teenagers must confront their greatest fears, their deepest secrets, and one another when they discover they are truly cut off from reality. Sci-fi, mystery, and romance converge in this high-stakes, fast-paced read that will leave you guessing to the very last moment.

Adrianne Finlay received her PhD in literature and creative writing from Binghamton University. Originally from Ithaca, New York, she now lives in Cedar Falls, Iowa with her husband, the poet J. D. Schraffenberger, and their two young daughters. She is an associate professor of English and the Program Director of Creative Writing at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, Iowa. When she’s not writing, reading, or grading, she’s making soap to sell locally, raising money for type 1 diabetes research.

SOCIAL QUEUE de Kay Kerr

A funny and heart-warming own-voices autistic story about deciphering the confusing signals of attraction and navigating a path to love.

SOCIAL QUEUE
by Kay Kerr
Text Publishing, Summer 2022

I thought I was nobody’s teen crush, but turns out I was just missing the signs. Zoe Kelly is starting a new phase of her life. High school was a mess of bullying and autistic masking that left her burnt out and shut down. Now, with an internship at an online media company—the first step on the road to her dream writing career—she is ready to reinvent herself. But she didn’t count on returning to her awkward and all-too-recent high-school experiences for her first writing assignment. When her piece, about her non-existent dating life, goes viral, eighteen-year-old Zoe is overwhelmed and more than a little surprised by the response. But, with a deadline and a list of romantic contenders from the past to reconnect with for her piece on dating, she is hoping one of her old sparks will turn into a new flame.

Kay Kerr is a former journalist and community newspaper editor from Brisbane, now living on the Sunshine Coast with her husband and daughter and working as a freelance writer. Kay was writing Please Don’t Hug Me, her debut novel, when she received her own autism-spectrum diagnosis.

 

THE ENDANGEREDS by Philippe Cousteau & Austin Aslan

The A-Team meets Endling in this middle-grade duology about four animals who decide to take fate into their own paws—by environmentalist, award-winning author, and Xploration Awesome Planet host Philippe Cousteau and TURBO Racers author Austin Aslan.

THE ENDANGEREDS #1
by Philippe Cousteau & Austin Aslan
HarperCollins Children’s, September 2020
Ages 8 -12

Humans had their chance to be in charge and look where that got us. Temperatures are rising, ice caps are melting, and innocent animals are in trouble. It is time for someone else to take over and fix this mess. It is time for . . . the Endangereds. One super-strong polar bear. One pangolin with a genius for engineering. One extremely sarcastic narwhal. And one orangutan with a dream. What more do you need to save the world? Together, these four unlikely heroes are determined to save endangered species across the globe. But when two of their endangered friends get kidnapped by a villain with a dastardly agenda, the team find themselves up to their snouts in trouble. Can the Endangereds save the day? Or will this villain put humans and animals alike on the extinction list?

Philippe Cousteau is a multi-Emmy-nominated TV host, author, speaker, and social entrepreneur. He has spoken at the United Nations, Harvard University, and across the world about environmental issues, and hosted numerous TV programs for Discovery, BBC, CNN, Travel Channel and more. Currently he is the host of the syndicated television show Xploration Awesome Planet and producer/narrator of a new Virtual Reality experience Drop in the Ocean.
Austin Aslan is the author of the TURBO Racers series and the Islands at the End of the World series. A National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, he can often be found camping in a tent on a punctured air mattress. In other lives, Austin drove ambulances way too fast, served as an ecotourism Peace Corps volunteer in a Honduran cloud forest, and managed a variety of campaigns.

FACELESS de Kathryn Lasky

Newbery Honor-winner Kathryn Lasky, author of the Guardians of Ga’hoole series, delivers a riveting middle-grade historical fiction novel about young British spies on a secret mission in Germany in WWII.

FACELESS
by Kathryn Lasky
HarperCollins Children’s, May 2021
Ages 8 -12

Over the centuries, unbeknownst to all, a small clan of spies has worked ceaselessly to fight oppression. They are called the Tabula Rasa. They can pass unseen through enemy lines, eavesdrop on conversations, and « become » other people without being recognized. They are, essentially, faceless. Alice and Louise Winfield are sisters and spies in the Tabula Rasa. They’re growing up in war-time England, where the threat of Nazi occupation is ever near. But Louise wants to live an ordinary life, and she tires of spy missions. When she leaves the agency, Alice must face her most dangerous assignment yet, without her sister at her side. As Alice prepares for her new mission, she must head into Hitler’s inner sanctum in Germany to report on the Nazis. She fears the threat of discovery, but, worst of all, she fears losing her own sister. This novel is a mix of espionage and historical adventure. Lasky masterfully spins a tale filled with mystery, suspense and intrigue.

Kathryn Lasky is a New York Times bestselling author of many children’s and young adult books, which include her Tangled in Time series; her recent picture book She Caught the Light, her bestselling series Guardians of Ga’Hoole, which was made into the Warner Bros. movie Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole; and her picture book Sugaring Time, awarded a Newbery Honor. She has twice won the National Jewish Book Award, for her novel The Night Journey and her picture book Marven of the Great North Woods. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with her husband.