Archives de catégorie : Frankfurt 2023 Children’s Books

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.

LET’S NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN de Megan Williams

Ella and I have been best friends since grade one. We can spend hours talking about everything and nothing. We know each other’s greatest fears, things that irrationally annoy us, and ideal career if money and skill weren’t an issue. If there was only one Hartford Bakery brownie left in the whole world and it was somehow in my possession, Ella is the only person I’d consider sharing it with.

LET’S NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN
by Megan Williams
Text Publishing, September 2023

Life is pretty good for sixteen-year-old Abby. Okay, her grandma doesn’t remember things anymore, her relationship with her mum is increasingly strained and she accidently kissed her cousin’s cousin on the weekend, so things aren’t exactly perfect. But everything is manageable with her best friend, Ella, by her side.

And with Ella’s brother, Will—interesting and attentive—on the sidelines.

When new girl Chloe arrives, Abby is pleased to be the one to show her around, to welcome her to the group. But Abby doesn’t imagine Chloe fitting in so well or quite so quickly. And before long Abby is feeling just a little left out, a little unsure of Ella’s friendship. In a moment of anger and confusion she wishes something bad would happen.

When it does—with tragic consequences—everything shifts again. And Abby has to face her own feelings and work out what friendship really means.

Megan Williams’ brilliant debut novel is a tender, moving, often funny celebration of female friendship, about the things that test it, and about what matters most.

Megan Williams won the 2022 Text Prize for her debut YA novel, LET’S NEVER SPEAK OF THIS AGAIN. She lives in Brisbane with her husband and their three children.

THE HARROWING de Kristen Kiesling, illustré par Rye Hickman

In this YA graphic novel, a psychic teen hunts potential killers until she discovers the boy she loves is her next target.

THE HARROWING
by Kristen Kiesling, illustrated by Rye Hickman
Amulet/Abrams, April 2024

Rowan Sterling should be worrying about normal teenage things like attending college and whether her best friend, Lucas, is maybe more than a friend. . . . Instead, she’s having terrifying visions of blood and violence. As the premonitions increase in number and intensity, Rowan seeks her father’s help, but instead finds herself drugged, kidnapped, and sent to a mysterious facility called Rosewood. It isn’t long before Rowan discovers Rosewood isn’t a boarding school or an asylum: it’s a training center for teens with special abilities who are known as Harrows.

Harrows can view the actions of would–be murderers before they commit crimes, and the scientists at Rosewood believe it is their duty to use the Harrows’ powers to make the world a safer place. Rowan is immediately drawn to Rosewood’s mission; after all, she lost her mother to a random act of violence two years prior. Empowered by the skills she’s acquired and ready to change the world, Rowan returns home, but when a series of visions lead the Harrows to pursue Lucas, Rowan starts questioning everything she learned at Rosewood—and sets out to protect him at all costs.

Kristen Kiesling grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma. She is an active member of the SCBWI and lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and two boys.

Rye Hickman is a visual storyteller and a graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s sequential art program. They are co–creator and artist on the upcoming Little Brown for Young Readers graphic novel Buzzing. Past work include TEST, Moth & Whisper, Bezkamp, Jem and the Holograms, the Femme Magnifique anthology, and more.

SELFIE d’Allayne L. Webster

An exploration of the complexities of teen friendships and the difficulties of navigating social media in a captivating novel for younger YA readers.

SELFIE
by Allayne L. Webster
Text Publishing, April 2023

Dene Walker picked me to be her best friend. She had the whole of Tonsley High’s year eight to choose from—and she chose me. Me!

Tully can’t believe her luck. Dene is famous. Everyone loves her. She has thousands of followers online and hundreds of sponsorship deals. Being best friends with Dene Walker is a dream come true.

Before long, Tully is hardly aware of the existence of her long-time bestie, Kira, as she shapes herself into a person worthy of Dene’s attention. And she’s not prepared for the heartache and confusion when Dene’s friendship is not all she imagined it to be.

SELFIE is an engaging and very real exploration of social media and the trickiness of separating what’s real from the glossiness of the online world. It’s a tender story about friendship and staying true to yourself.

Allayne L. Webster grew up in rural South Australia and now lives in Adelaide. Her books include the CBCA notable novel Paper Planes, A Cardboard Palace, Our Little Secret, The Centre of My Everything, That Thing I Did and Sensitive, which has been selected for the 2023 IBBY catalogue.

THESE BODIES BETWEEN US de Sarah Van Name

A wistful coming-of-age story with a haunting twist about four friends who spend their summer learning to become invisible—but disappearing comes at a cost.

THESE BODIES BETWEEN US
by Sarah Van Name
Delacorte, March 2024
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

Four girls. Four girls skating home, both sides of the road, fearless. Four girls at the mouth of an infinite ocean, sugared and salted with sand and seawater, the tide licking their sunburned feet.

This summer, they’re going to disappear.

For seventeen-year-old Callie and her best friends Talia and Cleo, every summer in their small North Carolina beach town is as steady as the tides. But this year, Cleo has invited enigmatic new girl Polly to join them, creating waves in their familiar friendship. And Cleo has an idea, gleaned from private YouTube videos and hidden message boards: they’re going to learn how to make themselves invisible.

Callie thinks it’s a ridiculous, impossible plan. But the other girls are intoxicated by the thought of disappearing, even temporarily—from bad boyfriends, from overbearing families, from the confusing, uncomfortable reality of having a body altogether. And, miraculously, it works.

Yet as the girls revel in their reckless new freedom, they realize it’s getting harder to come back to themselves…and do they even want to?

“A lusciously crafted and achingly poignant story about girlhood with a haunting twist that readers will savor. You won’t soon forget it.” —Kathleen Glasgow, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Girl in Pieces

“Spellbinding…Readers might be tempted to disappear alongside this kaleidoscopic foursome.” —K.L. Walther, New York Times bestselling author of The Summer of Broken Rules

“A gorgeous, wistful meditation on the pleasure and pain of adolescent girlhood, friendship, and the magic of summer.” —Dahlia Adler, author of Cool for the Summer

Sarah Van Name grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina and now lives and works in Durham with her family and dog. She is the author of two previous young adult novels, The Goodbye Summer (2019, a Junior Library Guild pick) and Any Place But Here (2021).