Archives de catégorie : Children’s Books

WEST OF THE SEA de Stephanie Willing

Sold in a heated auction, Stephanie Willing’s spellbinding debut is Tae Keller meets Tracey Baptiste, with the literary heart of The Higher Power of Lucky. In a tale of generational trauma, told with a cryptozoological twist, this outstanding new middle-grade novel seamlessly blends history and mythology with humor, big feelings, and even bigger questions.

WEST OF THE SEA
by Stephanie Willing
Viking, August 2023
(via Writers House)

When her mom disappears from their small Texas town, paleontology-loving Haven is determined to find her. But as she uncovers truths about her mom’s identity, Haven also uncovers a monstrous family secret. Her mom can take the shape of a human and, in the right environment, also turn into an amphibious creature known as a kitskara. And now that she’s growing up, Haven is discovering she has this ability, too. This newfound identity is her only clue to help her track her mother and bring her back home. And so she, her older sister Margie, and her new friend Rye set off on a road trip across Texas’s Gulf Coast to her late grandparents’ abandoned home, where they’re sure her mom has disappeared to. . . along with plenty of family secrets.
Infused with a deep love of fossils and Celtic mythology, WEST OF THE SEA is a lyrical, heart-filled coming-of-age story for fans of cryptozoology—and anyone who has struggled to find their place in the world when they feel different.

Stephanie Willing started writing stories and poetry when she was a little girl, and while she tried a lot of different kinds of art-making, reading and writing have always been her artistic home. Stories are at the heart of everything she does. As a dancer, she tells stories through movement. As an actor, she creates an emotional landscape through other people’s words. As an audiobook narrator, she gets to play all the parts at once and study how other authors craft their stories, while bringing it to life through audio. Stephanie has her MFA in Writing for Young People from Lesley University.

THE ADVENTURES OF INVISIBLE BOY de Doogie Horner

The first in a new middle-grade graphic novel series, featuring over-the-top action and excitement—and a superpower all kids dream of having.

THE ADVENTURES OF INVISIBLE BOY
by Doogie Horner
Putnam, Fall 2023
(via Writers House)

It’s the wind! It’s a ghost! No, it’s Invisible Boy! It’s Stanley’s first day at a new school and he is not looking forward to meeting a bunch of new kids. He wishes he could be invisible until he gets the lay of the land, and, due to a science project spill, it actually happens!
Turns out Stanley’s neighbor, Gene, is a pint-sized evil genius (with a secret science lair in his basement) and because that potion spill robbed him of first place in the science fair, he is determined to take his anger out on kids all over town. Good thing Stanley wants to use his invisible powers for good, even if it leads to an epic battle with tons of Gene’s outrageous inventions.

“On the first day of school, a new kid and an evil genius are about to collide. Our hero may be invisible—but THE ADVENTURES OF INVISIBLE BOY can’t be missed!” —Max Brallier, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Last Kids on Earth

Doogie Horner is the author of This Might Hurt a Bit, Some Very Interesting Cats Perhaps You Weren’t Aware of, Everything Explained Through Flowcharts, A Die Hard Christmas, and other books. His comedy album A Delicate Man was an AV Club staff pick. He won over a hostile NYC audience on America’s Got Talent and is a frequent guest on Doug Loves Movies.

THE BELLWOODS GAME de Celia Krampien

Perfect for fans of Small Spaces and Doll Bones, this spooky, highly illustrated middle-grade novel follows a girl who hopes to fix her outcast status through a game in the haunted woods, only to discover that some legends shouldn’t be played with.

THE BELLWOODS GAME
by Celia Krampien
Atheneum, Summer 2023
(via Writers House)

Everyone knows Fall Hollow is haunted. It has been ever since Abigail Snook went into the woods many years ago, never to be seen again. Since then, it’s tradition for the sixth graders at Beckett Elementary to play the Bellwoods Game on Halloween night. Three kids are chosen to go into the woods. Whoever rings the bell there wins the game and saves the town for another year, but if Abigail’s ghost captures the players first, the spirit is let loose to wreak havoc on Fall Hollow—or so the story goes.
Now that it’s Bailee’s year to play, she can finally find out what really happens. And legend has it the game’s winner gets a wish. Maybe, just maybe, if Bailee wins, she can go back to the way things used to be before her grandma got sick and everyone at school started hating her. But when the night begins, everything the kids thought they knew about the game—and each other—is challenged. One thing’s for sure: something sinister is at play…waiting for them all in the woods.

Celia Krampien grew up in a house in the woods in a small town near Owen Sound, Ontario, Canada. She studied illustration at Sheridan College and currently lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, with her partner, a mischievous cat, and a nosy beagle. She is the author of The Bellwoods Game.

THE MEMORY HOTEL de Mariko Turk

From the highly acclaimed author of The Other Side of Perfect comes a layered YA novel about grief, love, and what it means to believe in the beyond—perfect for fans of Emily X.R. Pan, Dustin Thao, and Nina LaCour.

THE MEMORY HOTEL
by Mariko Turk
‎ Little, Brown, Winter 2024
(via Writers House)

Natalie and Imogen were inseparable—Imogen was always the infuriatingly humble and intelligent one, while Natalie was the brave one, jumping into danger and new adventures. Despite their differences, one thing tied them together: their love of the supernatural. Every summer, they’d vacation with their parents at the famously haunted Harlow Hotel. Imogen fully believed in the tales of the supernatural, while Natalie saw ghosts stories as nothing but pure fun. Natalie has never been a believer.
Then, their summers change forever. When Imogen unexpectedly passes away from an undiagnosed heart condition, Natalie is left to take on the summer before senior year alone. Now that Imogen’s gone, Natalie’s doesn’t have much to focus on besides her senior project. Her passion is still horror so Natalie decides her project will be all about ghost chasing—specifically, she’s planning to spend her summer back at the Harlow Hotel recording fun fake footage that will get her on the teen ghost hunting show of her dreams. And her plans would be a lot less complicated if Leander, her arch rival from school, wasn’t working on his senior project at the very same hotel.
But the longer that Natalie stays at the Harlow Hotel, the more she realizes that her nemesis Leander might be helpful for her project. After all, she could use an extra hand to help record her fake footage. But, when strange occurrences suggest that ghosts could be real, Natalie questions her long held beliefs and whether Imogen is truly gone. In this story about the way grief shapes the way we look at the world and what we choose to believe, Natalie Nakada learns what it means to let go and let new love in.

Mariko Turk teaches writing and rhetoric classes and works as a writing tutor at the University of Colorado Boulder. She received her PhD in English from the University of Florida, with a concentration in children’s literature. The Other Side of Perfect was her debut novel.

THE ONLY GIRL IN TOWN d’Ally Condie

What would you do if everyone you love disappeared? What if it was your fault? A biting and breathless contemporary novel from Ally Condie, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Matched series.

THE ONLY GIRL IN TOWN
by Ally Condie
‎ Penguin Random House, September 2023
(via Writers House)

For July Fielding, nothing has been the same since that summer before her senior year. Or that late-August night at the jump. Before, she had Alex to be her loyal bestie, always up for playing endless rounds of mini golf or trying every ice cream flavor at local favorite Verity. She had Sydney, who pushed her during every sweaty and wonderful cross country run, and who sometimes seemed to know July better than she knew herself. And she had Sam. Sam, who told her she was everything and left her breathless with his kisses.
Now, July is alone. Every single person in her small town of Lithia has disappeared. No family. No Alex or Sydney. No Sam. July’s only chance at unraveling the mystery of their disappearance is a series of objects, each a reminder of the people she loved most. And a recurring message that begins to appear all over town: GET TH3M BACK.
With sharp, poetically visceral prose that grabs you by the heart and refuses to let go, New York Times bestselling author Ally Condie makes her contemporary YA debut with a searingly candid, breathless novel that perfectly distills the messy, beautiful realities of growing up, growing apart, and the courageous act of self-discovery.

Ally Condie is the author of the #1 New York Times bestselling Matched trilogy and co-author of the Darkdeep middle grade series. She is also the author of the novel Summerlost, an Edgar Award Finalist. A former English teacher, Ally lives with her family outside of Salt Lake City, Utah. Ally has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is the founder and director of the nonprofit WriteOut Foundation.