Archives de catégorie : Bologna 2025 Children’s & YA

THE PROPHECYMAKERS de Julie Abe

If you’re unremarkable… How will you leave your mark on the world? Abe’s unique combination of magic, humor, and imagination dazzles in this modern classic.

THE PROPHECYMAKERS #1
by Julie Abe
Bloomsbury Children’s Books, Winter 2026
(via Sterling Lord Literistic)

Lyra is Extremely Unremarkable. It’s even printed on her birth certificate. Her prophecy is the absolute worst rank in the realm. Lyra is also an orphan, shuttling from Guild to Guild, and looking for someone to take her in as one of their own. As soon as they find out about her fate, she’s shoved out the door, ragged suitcase in hand. If she doesn’t get into a Guild Registry before she turns twelve years old, she’ll be banished from the realm.

Her last chance is Waterfall Way. It’s a mysterious, beautiful village rumored to be rife with bad luck. Still, she’s determined to prove her worth. When her eccentric guardian requests she sort out Waterfall Way’s waterlogged, neglected magical library, she jumps at the seemingly impossible task. But, as she battles the bookdragons and makes friends with the villagers, she finds clues that hint that the prophecies that the realm relies on might not be exactly what they seem. Lyra may have an Extremely Unremarkable past, but she’s determined to fight fate for a future all her own.

THE PROPHECYMAKERS is a young middle grade fantasy where the heartwarming whimsy of Anne of Green Gables meets the sweeping adventures of Wilderlore, with a hint of A Wish in the Dark.

Julie Abe has lived in Silicon Valley, spent many humid summers in Japan, and currently basks in the sunshine of Southern California with never enough books or tea, where she creates stories about magical adventures. Her debut novel Eva Evergreen, Semi-Magical Witch received a starred review from Kirkus: “Bewitching… a must-read for fantasy lovers,” and was also listed as a Best Middle Grade Book by Kirkus Reviews, New York Public Library, Bank Street College of Education, and Book Riot. Julie is also the author of Eva Evergreen and the Cursed Witch; Alliana, Girl of Dragons; and Tessa Miyata is No Hero, as well as the young adult novels The Charmed List and Our Cursed Love.

FINDERS KEEPERS de Jeff Strand

A scavenger hunt takes a sinister turn in the third novel in the Eek! series, tales to scare you silly!

FINDERS KEEPERS
by Jeff Strand
Sourcebooks, April 2025

In the small town of Farlow, mysterious advertisements appear for a summer scavenger hunt. Twelve-year-old Maggie and her friends can’t wait. They have their team, and more than bragging rights, they want that huge cash prize.

On the big day, a strange man welcomes everybody to the game. The first items are ridiculously easy (« An egg? Seriously? »), but they quickly grow more difficult. When getting one of the items requires an actual crime―breaking into the school after dark―Maggie loses one of her teammates. But the others manage to steal Mr. Kramer’s favorite mug.

A bone from the cemetery seems like it’s as dark as the game can get, but when they’re asked to bring back a human head, nobody wants to play anymore. But it’s too late to quit…

Jeff Strand is the Bram-Stoker Award-winning author of more than sixty books, which is a pretty good number but not as many as R.L. Stine. Cemetery Dance magazine said, “No author working today comes close to Jeff Strand’s perfect mixture of comedy and terror.” He loves barbecue, sugary drinks, sushi, and spooky stuff. You can visit his Gleefully Macabre website at www.jeffstrand.com. .

DIVINE MORTALS d’Amanda M. Helander

Mona can name anyone’s soulmate—but she’ll do anything to avoid being matched with her own. Especially when she learns he’s the king.
This debut romantasy perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Rebecca Yarros delivers sizzling romance, cutthroat competition, a lush fantasy world, and an unforgettable heroine..

DIVINE MORTALS
by Amanda M. Helander
Disney Hyperion, November 2024 – October 2025
(via Kaplan DeFiore Rights)

Book 1: DIVINE MORTALS (November 2024)

Blessed by the crow god of love, eighteen-year-old Mona Arnett has the power to traverse the watery realm of the gods, speak with its seven deities, and divine soulmate matches with absolute certainty. Though Mona refuses to read her own match, she’s predicted pairings for wealthy nobles seeking amusement and lovesick couples desperate for affirmation. Still, it’s a shock when the king’s closest advisor demands her services.

The king is dying without an heir, explains Master Delmar Whitman—and if the royal line ends, the realm’s gods-given nexus will shatter and magic will vanish from the land. Only Mona can name the future queen and prevent the kingdom’s collapse.

But according to her reading, Mona is the king’s soulmate. Mona is destined to be queen—a role she doesn’t want and doesn’t believe she deserves. Worse: It’s not the king she thinks about when she’s alone at night.

Mona will lie, cheat, or contend with scheming gods if it keeps her off the throne. The only thing she can’t do is face her past. But when a mysterious blackmailer threatens murder, confronting her secrets may be the only way to survive.

Book 2: WAYWARD GODS (October 2025)

This sequel to young adult romantasy Divine Mortals delivers sizzling romance and epic stakes.

Mona is tasked with saving the world and everyone she loves—but what can she do when even the gods have failed?

Though she’s blessed by the god of love with the ability to divine soulmates, Mona Arnett never wanted romance for herself. And yet, after a twisted game of murder and blackmail, she’s been forced to marry the king—and to part from the man she might truly love.

Worse, Mona was put on the throne to bring about the prophesied end of the world. And though she’s found a way to delay the apocalypse, she fears that in doing so she’s only extended the suffering of her subjects. The people of Selledore face starvation and torture, the castle is besieged by demons, and the gods have turned their backs.

But Mona isn’t alone. Second to the gods, divine mortals like her are the strongest beings alive, and there are seven of them scattered throughout the human and god realms. So Mona sets out to recruit the others to her cause.To stop the forces tearing her world apart and protect everyone she’s come to love, though, Mona will need far more than the combined wisdom and magic of her new allies. She may have to find a way to become more powerful than the gods themselves. . . .

Richly imagined and breathtakingly inventive, the stunning conclusion to Amanda M. Helander’s Divine Mortals duology delivers passion, intrigue, and desperate, devastating hope.

“Fans of Rebecca Yarros and Sarah J. Maas need look no further for their next big read. . . Sexy, thrilling, and utterly unputdownable.” —Kirkus Reviews, starred

“You will fall madly in love with this book!” —Ava Reid, #1 New York Times best-selling author of A Study in Drowning

“An absolute delight! Mona is a heroine after my own heart, navigating court intrigue, divine machinations, and an opposites-attract romance with crass humor and an iron will. With wit, whimsy, and fantastic worldbuilding, Divine Mortals will pull you in—and you might never want to resurface.” —Allison Saft, New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic

Amanda M. Helander is a fantasy author and paralegal from Seattle, Washington. When she’s not writing, Amanda can be found watching horror movies, learning to crochet, or eating entire blocks of Parmesan in one sitting. Visit her online at www.amandahelander.com or @helander_amanda on Instagram.

THE UNDERWILD: RIVER OF SPIRITS de Shana Targosz

A “dazzling debut” (Booklist, starred review) middle-grade fantasy about a girl caught between the realms of the living and the dead who gets lost in the Underworld—perfect for fans of Greenwild and Rick Riordan.

THE UNDERWILD: RIVER OF SPIRITS (Book 1)
by Shana Targosz
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, March 2025
(via Writers House)

Senka lives between the realm of the Living and the realm of the Dead. As ward to Charon, the Ferryer of the Underworld, Senka assists in ferrying recently departed souls across the river and into their afterlife. Although Charon has taught her many Rules about life in the Underworld, there is much he avoids telling her. Though she doesn’t understand why the Rules are so important, she listens—she must heed them in order to become an official Ferryer, just like Charon.

Then a Living girl, Poppy, enters the Underworld to plead for help in finding the ghost of her brother. Poppy’s grief tugs at Senka’s heart—but helping Poppy goes against the very Rules Senka is so desperate to follow. When Poppy is yanked away by the river’s current, Senka leaps to save her, and she and Poppy are swept downriver, far from everything Senka has ever known.

Lost in the Underwild, Senka and Poppy encounter malevolent spirits of lore and eccentric ghosts—and not all are willing to let souls slip through their grasp. Senka knows the Living can’t stay in the realm of the Dead for long, and if Poppy isn’t returned home soon, she will risk becoming lost to the Underworld forever. But as Senka travels deeper into the Underwild, she discovers there are secrets her guardian has kept from her, including the mystery surrounding her own existence. As Poppy and Senka dodge angry demigods, hungry wraiths, and terrifying dragon chimera, Senka gets closer to learning the truth of her own past. Soon, Senka won’t just need to save Poppy’s life—she’ll also need to save her own.

Shana Targosz writes about magical girls, budding friendships, ghosts who may or may not be friendly, and fiercely held hope. She is an Oregon Literary Fellow and the 2021 recipient of the Edna L. Holmes Fellowship in Young Readers Literature. River of Spirits is her debut novel. When not writing or reading through a stack of books, she spends her time playing Zelda with her son, designing solo journaling games, walking her domesticated monster disguised as a Labradoodle, and dreaming up different worlds.

DON’T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS de Raphael Simon et Phillip De Léon

A tender love story, a queer coming-of-age and a gripping mystery all wrapped into one in this YA graphic novel.

DON’T TELL ME WHAT HAPPENS
by Raphael Simon
illustrated by Phillip de León
Roaring Brook, Summer 2026
(via The Gernert Company)

Two queer love stories. Two time periods. One mystery.

Fifteen-year-old Noah lives with his father in New York but is spending the summer with his mother in Venice, CA. An indoor, city sort of person, a RuPaul fanatic, he’s miserable in the sun – until he meets Tomo, a surfer who works in his father’s vintage store. Tomo hands Noah an old composition-style notebook, filled with steamy diary entries by its teenaged owner, Diego, in addition to ephemera from the 1980s. Noah reads about Diego playing footsie in history class with closeted surfer (another surfer!) Casey until one day after school it becomes something more. Noah is enthralled. And there’s one more notebook at the store, but that’s it – Noah and Tomo have no idea what happened to Diego and Casey. And as they set off to find the much older surfer, the two boys find romance of their own…but can Noah keep from sabotaging the first good thing in his life?

Better known as Pseudonymous Bosch, Raphael Simon is the not-so-secret author of two bestselling middle-grade series, the Secret Series and the Bad Books, as well as the ALA Rainbow-Listed Unbelievable Oliver chapter-book mysteries. Most recently, Raphael published The Anti-Book, the first novel to appear under his own name.

Textile designer and illustrator Phillip De León worked as a creative in the advertising world before joining forces with his design partner and sister Nicole and their father Marcus to form the De León Design Group, and to direct the Los Angeles-based textile house, Alexander Henry Fabrics, Inc.