Archives de catégorie : Frankfurt 2022 Children’s Books

THE FAINT OF HEART de Kerilynn Wilson

Utterly immersive and deeply atmospheric, this YA graphic novel is part speculative fiction, party cautionary tale – a true one-of-a-kind project that recalls Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Never Let Me Go, and the work of Charlie Kaufman.

THE FAINT OF HEART
by Kerilynn Wilson
Greenwillow/HarperCollins, June 2023
(via Writers House)

It wasn’t even that long ago. The Scientist discovered that all sadness, anxiety, and anger would disappear when you remove your heart. And that’s all it took. Soon enough the Hospital had lines out the door.
June is an unexceptional teen in almost every way—she’s an average student, she lives at home with her mom, dad, and sister, she loves art. . . but June is the only one in town who still has her heart. Between June’s uncaring family and the blank stare of her former best friend, nothing hurts more than being surrounded by the heartless. Just when June is about to cave to the mounting pressure to remove her heart and stop feeling emotions altogether, she comes across a heart in a jar, left abandoned in an alley. Convincing her family that she went along with the procedure, June instead decides to find a way to put this heart into the person whose love she misses most: her sister Maya. But things get complicated when Max, a heartless boy from school, volunteers to join June on her secret quest. Max has a secret of his own. . . though he removed his heart, he’s starting to feel again. And it hurts.

Kerilynn Wilson is an author/illustrator with a love of the weird and wonderful, who lives in Portland, Oregon. The Faint of Heart is her debut graphic novel.

SUEE AND THE SHADOW de Ginger Ly & Molly Park

The Zero Detective Club is back in this highly anticipated sequel to Suee and the Shadow!

SUEE AND THE SHADOW (Book 1)
SUEE AND THE STRANGE WHITE LIGHT (Book 2)
by Ginger Ly
illustrated by Molly Park
Abrams, September 2017 – May 2023
(via Writers House)

Suee and the Zero Detective Club are back and ready to unravel some mysteries! However, other than a bunch of missing cat cases, there really isn’t too much to solve . . . That is, until Smartie, Suee’s kid-nemesis from her old school, goes missing leaving only one clue: Central City.
Nemesis or not, it’s up to Suee and the rest of the Zero Detective Club members to find her. But Smartie’s disappearance isn’t the only weird thing going on in this part of town. There’s an army of workers in white uniforms installing strange devices, and all the adults have started acting bizarre and ignoring their kids. With all these odd occurrences, it’s up to the Zero Detective Club of Outskirtsville to find out what’s going on!
Author Ginger Ly and illustrator Molly Park return with fantastic energy and brilliant art for an incredible follow-up to Suee’s first adventure. This fast-paced and spooky tale will is sure to capture the hearts of readers young and old.

“Ly’s haunting story gains depth and texture from Park’s minimalist, thick-lined artwork. . . . the friendships Suee forms prove formidable against both supernatural threats and the twisty social politics of school.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Park’s bold, modish figures, largely in black and white with occasional bright pops of color, add to the eerie atmosphere . . . the stylish art is plenty eye-catching. . . a subtle undercurrent of emotional depth.”—Booklist

Ginger Ly worked as a designer before earning her master’s degree in filmmaking from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She lives in the suburbs of Seoul, South Korea.
Molly Park lives in Seoul, South Korea, with two black cats and a mouse, and they all get along very well. SUEE AND THE SHADOW is their debut graphic novel.

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.