Archives par étiquette : Writers House

SHOCK CITY d’Aaron Alexovich

From debut author Aaron Alexovich comes a middle-grade graphic-novel series following Sunny von Shock—a cheerful monster kid, and her new (well, only) friend Milo, as they try to save their town over the course of one epic night!

SHOCK CITY
by Aaron Alexovich
Viking, Fall 2024
(via Writers House)

When shy, introverted Milo rings the doorbell of the forbidden Shock City castle on a dare, he gets more than he bargained for when Sunny, a peppy young monster, answers the door. He would never have returned a second time—except he feels he owes it to Sunny to tell her that he’s moving away. Not just him, either. The entire Shock City population. But Sunny isn’t about to let her best (only) friend leave her side. In fact, she’s willing to do whatever it takes to keep Milo in Shock City. So she convinces him to join her on a nighttime romp in an attempt to fix the crumbling metropolis and give everyone a reason to stay. But then Milo unleashes the harsh truth on Sunny—her late grandfather, the great Darkness von Shock, is the very reason the town is on the verge of collapse. Suddenly, their friendship is put to the test, and it’s up to Milo to be brave if he has any shot of saving his beloved Shock City.

Comic artist, writer, and character designer Aaron Alexovich’s first professional art job was working on Nickelodeon’s Invader Zim. Since then, he’s worked on various animation and comic projects, including Avatar: The Last Airbender, Disney’s Haunted Mansion, DC’s Fables, and three volumes of his original comic Serenity Rose. SHOCK CITY is his middle grade debut.

THE MISFIT SERIES de Lisa Yee, illustré par Dan Santat

When a notorious thief is out for priceless treasure (gems! cats! general decorum!)—who’re you gonna call? An elite team of crime-fighting underdogs, that’s who! The Misfits are on the case in this hilarious illustrated series from Newbery Honoree Lisa Yee and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat!

THE MISFITS SERIES
by Lisa Yee
illustrated by Dan Santat
Random House Books for Young Readers
(via Writers House)

Book 1: A ROYAL CONUNDRUM (January 2024)

Olive Cobin Zang has . . . issues. And they mostly aren’t her fault. (No, really!) Though she often slips under the radar, problems have a knack for finding her. So, imagine her doubts when she’s suddenly dropped off at the strangest boarding school ever: a former castle turned prison that’s now a “reforming arts school”!

But nothing could’ve prepared Olive for RASCH (not “rash”). There, she’s lumped with a team of other kids who never quite fit in, and discovers that the academy isn’t what it seems—and neither is she. In fact, RASCH is a cover for an elite group of misfits who fight crime . . . and Olive has arrived just in time.

Turns out that RASCH is in danger of closing, unless Olive’s class can stop the heist of the century. And as Olive falls in love with this wacky school, she realizes it’s up to her new team to save the only home that’s ever welcomed them.

Book 2: A COPYCAT CONUNDRUM (January 2025)

When San Francisco is under strange attacks—like earthquakes affecting only two city blocks at a time—who’re you gonna call? An elite team of crime-fighting underdogs, that’s who! The Misfits are on the case in this hilarious illustrated series!

For any kid who’s felt like a misfit, this crackling adventure packs a wallop!” —Lincoln Peirce, creator of Big Nate

Oof! After solving the case of the Royal Rumpus, Olive Cobin Zang and her elite team of underdogs are on top of the world. As the awkward, crime-fighting Misfits, they’re acing every mission thrown at them from NOCK (aka No One Can Know, the covert agency they work for).

But when their classmate Zeke starts receiving threatening notes, the Misfits are stumped. They’re no strangers to danger, but this case is a total head-scratcher. Who would target kind, friendly Zeke . . . unless he’s not what he seems to be?

At the same time, unusual earthquakes start shaking up San Francisco just as priceless art goes missing, and the Misfits are called to investigate. Is it a coincidence that the city is under attack while Zeke is getting mysterious messages? Or is it all just a cover for a scheme bigger than any they’ve faced before?

For other Misfit adventures from Newbery Honoree Lisa Yee and Caldecott Medalist Dan Santat, don’t miss The Misfits #1: A Royal Conundrum!

Lisa Yee has taken a private-investigator course, and it’s slightly possible that she’s a secret undercover operative. She’s also a Newbery Honoree and a National Book Award finalist for Maizy Chen’s Last Chance. Some of her other twenty-one novels are the groundbreaking Millicent Min, Girl Genius; Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time; and the DC Super Hero Girls series. A frequent contributor to NPR’s Books We Love, she divides her time between Western Massachusetts and Los Angeles.

Dan Santat is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of over a hundred books. His graphic memoir A First Time for Everything won the National Book Award, and his picture book The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend received the Caldecott Medal. He also illustrated The Blur, Lift, and Drawn Together, both written by Minh Lê, which received critical acclaim. Dan is also the creator of the Disney animated hit The Replacements. He lives in Southern California with his family.

A VERY CRANKY BOOK d’Angela & Tony DiTerlizzi

The first picture book collaboration from bestselling husband-and-wife team Tony and Angela DiTerlizzi is the charmingly irreverent tale of a very cranky book . . . who might not be so cranky after all.

A VERY CRANKY BOOK
by Angela & Tony DiTerlizzi
HarperCollins, September 2023
(via Writers House)

Are you ready to meet the world’s crankiest book?
Cranky doesn’t want to be read. He just wants you to leave him alone. After all, there are so many other things you can do—ride a bike, play a game, or draw a picture. There’s no reason for you to be bothering him! But when other books show up for story time, will Cranky change his mind?
Angela and Tony DiTerlizzi, two creative forces, have crafted a story as silly as it is clever. In the vein of Grumpy Monkey and The Day the Crayons Quit, this tale humorously explores the big emotions of one very cranky book.

Angela DiTerlizzi is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author.
Tony DiTerlizzi is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and artist whose work includes the Caldecott Honor book The Spider and the Fly, and The Spiderwick Chronicles with Holly Black, which has sold over 20 million copies and been licensed in over thirty territories.

AFTER YOU VANISHED de E. A. Neeves

Sadie meets We Were Liars in this YA heartfelt mystery, in which one girl desperately searches to find out what happened to her missing sister.

AFTER YOU VANISHED
by E. A. Neeves
Disney-Hyperion, June 2023
(via Writers House)

Teddy’s favorite place is Bottomrock Lake, where sunfish swim in their little saucer nests and lilypads edge the shore. She’s worked there as a lifeguard every summer, including last year, when her twin sister Izzy waded into the lake for a midnight swim and never came out. Now, Teddy can’t stop scripting stories for where she went. Izzy was an accomplished swimmer, so she couldn’t possibly have drowned. And if she did somehow drown, where’s her body and why is her passport missing? 
When Toby, the gorgeous jerk who was with Izzy on the night she vanished, comes to Bottomrock to work as a lifeguard alongside Teddy, she can’t help but be suspicious. How many of her sister’s secrets does he hold? And how can Teddy unearth them—without falling for the boy who watched her sister disappear?
Told from Teddy’s point of view directly to Izzy, AFTER YOU VANISHED is a mystery that will have readers trying to piece together the secret life of a sister who’s gone.

E.A. Neeves grew up in New England, where she spent many summers lifeguarding at an idyllic lake, and occasionally catching snapping turtles. She enjoys tea, swimming, and board games that take entire evenings to play. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found spending time with her family at their (probably not haunted) home in Salem, MA. AFTER YOU VANISHED is her YA debut.

DISTANT SONS de Tim Johnston

Tim Johnston masterfully interweaves past and present to tell a story of violence, vengeance, and remorse. Poetic, compelling, nuanced, profoundly and achingly beautiful.

DISTANT SONS
by Tim Johnston
Algonquin, October 2023
(via Writers House)

DISTANT SONS is set in a small Wisconsin town on the banks of the Mississippi, where, in the 1970s, three young boys vanished in a series of heart-wrenching, still unsolved disappearances. In the present day, a drifter named Sean arrives in town and gets embroiled in the lives of a waitress and her abusive ex, leading him to love—and a dangerous enemy. At his side is Dan Young, who is fleeing the unspoken specters of his past; together, Sean and Dan take up work for Marion Devereaux, an old man long suspected in the disappearances of the boys. Observing them all is Detective Viegas, a woman whose drive to seek justice is impacted by her own father’s failure to solve the 1970s mystery—and the violence once done to her sister.
In DISTANT SONS Tim Johnston masterfully interweaves past and present to tell a story of violence, vengeance, and remorse. It is a minutely observed novel about men and women living in the small towns and forgotten byways of America, of blue collar people working jobs for cash and just getting by day to day. In observing the grace—and the violence—that can result from the smallest crossings of these so often unheralded lives, Tim Johnston elevates a set of characters distinctive from those that populate most literary fiction these days. His protagonists’ concerns and secrets, joys and sorrows are rooted in a profound sense of place and personality that galvanizes the mysteries they encounter. Throughout DISTANT SONS, we are drawn into broader questions of culpability, the way what we do—or fail to do—can long outlive us. And for each, Tim Johnston tenderly interrogates the way we grow around our losses like trees around scars, bending or lifting with each passing year.

Tim Johnston’s most recent novels include Descent and The Current. Both were New York Times, USA Today and Indie bestsellers. He is also the author of short stories that have appeared in New England Review, New Letters, The Iowa Review, The Missouri Review, Double Take, Best Life Magazine, and Narrative Magazine, among others.