Archives de catégorie : Frankfurt 2024 Children’s Books

UP IN SMOKE de Nick Brooks

Perfect for fans of Karen McManus and The Hate U Give, this edge-of-your-seat thriller from the author of Promise Boys follows a girl determined to clear her brother’s name and a boy desperate to keep his own out of the line of fire. As the heat turns up in a murder investigation, old feelings reignite between them, but a shocking secret could tear them apart.

UP IN SMOKE
by Nick Brooks
Henry Holt/Macmillan, May 2025
(via Writers House)

Unmask a murderer or take the fall.

After Cooper King is pressured by big brother figure Jason to go on a looting spree during a local march, the unthinkable happens: gunshots ring in the air and someone ends up dead. After Cooper flees, the news shows four teens in ski masks near the scene of the murder—Cooper and his friends. Cooper fears the cops will come knocking at his door, and the pressure only mounts when a suspect is taken into custody: Jason.

Monique, Jason’s sister and Cooper’s longtime crush, is willing to go any length to clear her brother’s name. Even if she needs to go into the belly of the beast and confront the killer herself. When she teams up with Cooper, they fall down the investigation rabbit hole and start to fall for each other. But little does Monique know that within this web of deception, Cooper is shrouding the truth that he was there when the shots went off. If the pair fail to uncover the real murderer, Jason will get locked up for a crime he didn’t commit—and drag Cooper down with him.

Nick Brooks is the critically-acclaimed author of Promise Boys and award-winning filmmaker from Washington, DC. His short film, Hoop Dreamin’, earned him the George Lucas Scholar Award and was a finalist in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Film Fest.

ANOMALIES 53 #1: INTO THE SHADOWS d’Angela Cervantes

Men in Black meets Fablehaven in this exciting, new middle-grade fantasy-adventure about magic, identity, and the worlds we cannot see.

ANOMALIES 53 #1: INTO THE SHADOWS
by Angela Cervantes
HarperCollins Children’s Books, April 2025

Next door to the notorious Area 51 sits Area 53, the underground lab where the government secretly holds what they call “the anomalies.” These are the Earth-born mythical- and magical creatures – fairies, wyverns, manticores, and more – that have been captured and brought in for study. It’s also where eleven-year-old Oliver Robles, the only son of Area 53’s lead researcher, has grown up. He’s lived his whole life safely within these cement-and-steel halls … That is, until the day he accidentally freed seven anomalies. Now it’s up to Oliver and his best (and only) friend Garen Jackson to round-up these magical beings before they can escape back into The Shadows they came from. But along the way, the truths the two kids discover about the world, and themselves, will change everything, forever.

Angela Cervantes is the Mexican American author of several children’s novels, such as 2020 Pura Belpré Honor Book Lety Out Loud. In addition to her original novels, Angela authored the junior novelizations for Disney/Pixar’s animated film Coco and Disney’s animated film Encanto.

DON’T LET ME GO de Kevin Christopher Snipes

They Both Die at the End meets See You Yesterday in this speculative YA romance about two star-crossed boys trapped in a millennium-spanning cycle of reincarnation whose only hope of escape may be a price that neither is willing to pay.

DON’T LET ME GO
by Kevin Christopher Snipes
HarperCollins Children’s Books, May 2025

Out and proud, Riley Iverson knows there’s nothing more cringe than crushing on a straight boy. But from the moment that the handsome, sporty, and painfully heterosexual Jackson Haines walks into his life, Riley can’t help but feel an instant and undeniable connection. Mainly because, as impossible as it seems, Jackson is the spitting image of the boy who’s recently appeared in Riley’s dreams—dreams set in another time and another place where he and Jackson were desperately in love.

At first Riley tries to dismiss the coincidence as a product of his hormone-fueled, overactive imagination, but as his friendship with Jackson deepens into something more, the dreams prove harder to ignore. Especially when Jackson begins having them too. Plunged into increasingly vivid visions of the past, the boys find themselves in various eras scattered throughout history. No matter where or when their dreams take them, though, two things remain constant: Riley and Jackson are always together, and they always die at the end.

As it becomes increasingly difficult to view their dreams as anything but warnings, the boys are forced to consider the possibility that their burgeoning relationship might be propelling them headfirst into their own tragic ending. But is it worth staying apart to save their lives if the price is forsaking a love that has defied not only time and space but even death itself?

Kevin Christopher Snipes is a New York–based writer who was born and raised in Florida. He spent his early career in the theater writing plays, including A Bitter Taste and The Chimes. Later, for Gimlet Media/Spotify, he created the queer fantasy podcast The Two Princes. His children’s poetry and short fiction have been published internationally, and his debut novel, Milo and Marcos at the End of the World, was an official selection of the NEA’s Read Across America program. 

A GIRL WALKS INTO THE FOREST de Madeleine Roux

Midsommar meets The Shadows Between Us in this alluring mash-up of horror and fairy tale from New York Times bestselling author Madeleine Roux, where a girl must embark on a harrowing journey through a deadly forest filled with otherworldly creatures, supernatural forces, and one maniacal villain who will stop at nothing to bring her down.

A GIRL WALKS INTO THE FOREST
by Madeleine Roux
Quill Tree/HarperCollins, June 2025

For as long as she can remember, Valla’s been told her beauty would give her a life most people only dreamed of. So when the mysterious Count Leonid calls on her to be his betrothed, Valla jumps at the chance to leave her small, bleak village. The only thing standing in her way? The journey through the dangerous Gottyar Wood that many don’t survive.

Filled with deadly and cunning creatures, the Gottyar immediately delivers on its reputation with an attack that leaves Valla injured; her face torn to shreds. Barely making it to the castle in one piece, Valla is relieved to finally be safe. But things have changed. Valla’s face is no longer beautiful. And the Count is not happy…Valla thought making it through the Gottyar was a victory, but when she sees what awaits beyond the palace walls, the true battle begins.

In this ruthlessly female-forward narrative that borrows from the best of horror, fairy tales, and folklore, a chewed-up-and-spit-out heroine must lean on the brutality of nature and her biggest fears in order to win back what’s she’s been robbed of: her life.

Madeleine Roux is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Asylum series, which has sold over a million copies worldwide. She is also the author of the House of Furies series and several titles for adults, including Salvaged and Reclaimed. She has made contributions to Star Wars, World of Warcraft, and Dungeons & Dragons. Madeleine lives in Seattle, Washington, with her partner and beloved pups.

SO OVER SHARING d’Elissa Brent Weissman

In this timely contemporary middle-grade novel from award-winning author Elissa Brent Weissman, two girls find their private struggles against their influencer mothers going very public.

SO OVER SHARING
by Elissa Brent Weissman

Dial Books for Young Readers, May 2025
(via DeFiore and Company)

Quiet, introverted Hadley and rough-around-the-edges Willow have one big main thing in common: both their moms have gained a huge online following sharing every detail of their lives. Hadley’s mom—Phoebe of @PhoebeAndJay fame—loves to share all the terrible, down and dirty bits about raising kids while Willow’s mom Rosalind at the up-and-coming @MoonbeamsAndMarigold basks in the glow of motherhood.

If getting all her life’s moments (including an almost decade old viral potty-training video) shared online isn’t enough, Hadley’s starting a new school in a new neighborhood and desperately trying to keep her mom’s identity a secret while Willow is struggling with a recent life-changing announcement from her mom who, it turns out, is not getting out of the influencer world anytime soon.

As the two girls build a friendship on a private Instagram page and share the pains of having a momfluencers, they come up against the same question—how long will they have to share their lives with everyone?

Elissa Brent Weissman is an award-winning author of novels for young readers including The Length of a String and The Renegade Reporters. Her debut picture book, Hanukkah Upside Down, illustrated by Omar Hoffmann was a Sydney Taylor Book Honoree. Best known for the popular Nerd Camp series, she and her books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Huffington Post, NPR’s “Here and Now,” and more. Originally from Long Island, New York, Elissa spent many years in Baltimore City, where she taught creative writing to children, college students, and adults. She currently lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband and their two super cool nerds-in-training.