Kid Lit News: Released This Week
Twenty Yawns
By Jane Smiley and Lauren Castillo
Featuring lyrical text and beautiful illustrations, this bedtime tale from Pulitzer Prize winner Jane Smiley and Caldecott Honor recipient Lauren Castillo evokes the splashy fun of the beach and the quietude of a moonlit night, with twenty yawns sprinkled in for children to discover and count. As her mom reads a bedtime story, Lucy drifts off. But later, she awakens in a dark, still room, and everything looks mysterious. How will she ever get back to sleep?
Let's Play
By Hervé Tullet
It's only a yellow dot...but what a dot it is! Readers won't be able to resist this jaunty, adventurous dot, nor its invitation to play along. Thus begins a spectacular ride of color, motion, shape, and imagination, filled with the artistry and delight that we know and love so well from Press Here and Mix It Up! But on this journey, prepare to leap headlong into a completely new dimension: emotion. Connecting not only to the mind but also to the heart, this dot expresses an extraordinary sense of humor, fear, joy, and more as it pushes, lurches, wiggles, and slides its way through—and even off!—the pages of this glorious companion to Press Here and Mix It Up!
Little Red
By Bethan Woollvin
On her way to Grandmas house, Little Red Riding Hood meets a wolf. Now, that might scare some little girls but not this little girl! She knows just what the wolf is up to, and she's not going to let him get away with it. In this updated fairy tale with a mischievous twist, talented newcomer Bethan Woollvin uses sly humor, striking visuals, and a dark irreverence to turn a familiar tale on its head.
Chicken Lily
By Lori Mortensen and Nina Victor Crittenden
Chicken Lily may be a lot of things--a careful colorer, a patient puzzler, and a quiet hide-and-seeker (she never made a peep!)--but brave has never been one of them. That's why, when a school-wide poetry jam is announced in class, Lily is terrified. Will she sound like a bird brain? Although Lily's friends Baabette and Pigsley try to encourage her, Lily feels like a rotten egg. Finally, Lily realizes that she must put her best claw forward and prove that even chickens aren't chicken all the time.
Maxi the Little Taxi By Elizabeth Upton
It's Maxi the Taxi's first day of work. What fun it is to zip and zoom all around the town! SPLASH go the mud puddles! PLIPPITY-PLOP drips the ice cream and mustard from sticky little fingers! Soon Maxi becomes so grimy and gooey that no one wants to ride with him. Who will help this dirty little taxi discover what he needs most? It's a smart little boy who takes Maxi for a noisy, tickly bath in the car wash!
Captain Jack and the Pirates
By Peter Bently and Helen Oxenbury
From the award-winning creator of We're Going on a Bear Hunt and Peter Bently comes this utterly delightful picture book, that sees a family day out at the beach turn into a wonderful piratical adventure! Make-believe fun, illustrated by picture book star, Helen Oxenbury, will capture the imaginations of children everywhere. This is sure to be a classic.
Mighty Truck By Chris Barton and Troy Cummings
Clarence was just an ordinary truck until one fateful day when an unplanned trip through a strange truck wash changed him. Foomp, his tires pumped up, and vroom, his engine revved, and Ka-Boom! Muddy old Clarence transformed into the mighty-fast, mighty-strong, mighty-awesome Mighty Truck! With his laser-bright headlights and turbo speed, Mighty Truck can take on any challenge.
Hector and Hummingbird
By Nicholas John Frith
Hector the bear has a big problem: His friend Hummingbird just won't be quiet! Whether Hector's trying to enjoy a snack, get a good scratch against a tree, or take a nap, Hummingbird's always buzzing around, asking too many questions. The pair have always been best friends, but will Hector ever find peace and quiet with Hummingbird around?
The Kid from Diamond Street
By Audrey Vernick and Steven Salerno
Audrey Vernick and Steven Salerno have again collaborated to bring us a captivating picture book about a compelling but little-known piece of baseball history. Beginning in 1922, when Edith Houghton was only ten years old, she tried out for a women’s professional baseball team, the Philadelphia Bobbies. Though she was the smallest on the field, soon reporters were talking about “The Kid” and her incredible skill, and crowds were packing the stands to see her play. Her story reminds us that baseball has never been about just men and boys. Baseball is also about talented girls willing to work hard to play any way they can.
ScrapKins: Junk Re-Thunk By Brian Yanish
Welcome to Scrap City, home of an inventive tribe of creatures called ScrapKins. Using materials that people throw away (empty soda bottles and cans, milk cartons, cereal boxes, and bottlecaps) these creatures make new things that are useful—the ultimate recyclers.
The Haunted Library
By Dori Hillestad Butler
When ghost boy Kaz’s haunt is torn down and he is separated from his ghost family, he meets a real girl named Claire, who lives above the town library with her parents and her grandmother. Claire has a special ability to see ghosts when other humans cannot and she and Kaz quickly form a friendship. The two join forces to solve the mystery of the ghost that’s haunting the library. Could it be one of Kaz’s lost family members?
Alamo All-Stars (Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales #6) By Nathan Hale
“Remember the Alamo!” That rallying cry has been a part of Texas lore for generations. But who were the ragtag group of adventurers behind the famous slogan, and how did they end up barricaded in a fort against a Mexican army? Who survived, who died, and how? This sixth book in the bestselling Hazardous Tales series tracks the Lone Star State’s bloody fight for independence from the Mexican government. It features the exploits of the notorious Jim Bowie, as well as Stephen Austin, Davy Crockett, and other settlers and soldiers who made the wild frontier of Texas their home—all told with the inimitable style and humor for which Nathan Hale is known.
The Girl in the Tower
By Lisa Schroeder
Ever since she can remember, ten-year-old Violet and her mother have been locked away in a tower by the evil Queen Bogdana, who has the kingdom under her spell. The queen has everything she wants except for one thing -- beauty. Violet possesses this beauty. She also has a secret: although she is very small, both her spirit and her heart are mighty. When Violet is summoned by Bogdana to start training to become a real princess, it seems as if her life might be taking a turn for the better. But hope quickly fades when Violet's mother is banished from the castle, and she and Violet are forbidden to see each other ever again. With everyone's lives in the balance, it's up to Violet to break the spell and reunite her family.
Allie, First at Last
By Angela Cervantes
This charming, heartfelt second novel by Gaby, Lost and Foundauthor Angela Cervantes asks an all-important question: is winning top prize worth losing a friend? Junko Tabei: The first woman to reach the top of Mount Everest. Rita Moreno: The first Hispanic actress to win an Academy Award. Gwendolyn Brooks: The first African American author to win the Pulitzer Prize. Allie Velasco: ??? Allie Velasco wants to win. Something. Everyone in her family is a standout in some way and Allie is determined to make her mark. When a prestigious school competition is announced, Allie knows this is her shot. There's just one problem--her biggest competition is her ex-best friend Sara. Can Allie take top prize and win back a friend--or is she destined to lose it all?
Mission Mumbai
By Mahtab Narsimhan
When aspiring photographer Dylan Moore is invited to join his best friend, Rohit Lal, on a family trip to India, he jumps at the chance to embark on an exciting journey just like their Lord of the Rings heroes, Frodo and Sam. But each boy comes to the trip with a problem: Rohit is desperate to convince his parents not to leave him behind in Mumbai to finish school, and Dylan is desperate to stay in India to prove himself as a photographer and to avoid his parents' constant fighting. Keeping their struggles to themselves threatens to tear the boys apart. But when disaster strikes, Dylan and Rohit realize they have to set aside their differences to navigate India safely, confront their family issues, and salvage their friendship.
The Classy Crooks Club
By Alison Cherry
Twelve-year-old AJ dreads spending an entire month living with her strict Grandma Jo. Not only does her grandmother dictate how she walks, what she eats, and which rooms she can enter, she fills all AJ's free time with boring sewing lessons. Grandma Jo wants nothing more than to transform her adventurous, fun-loving granddaughter into a prim and proper lady. But AJ’s dull summer takes a sharp turn when she discovers that her grandmother's "bridge group" is actually a heist club. When Grandma Jo offers to let AJ learn lock-picking instead of embroidery in exchange for help with a few capers, AJ is happy to join her grandmother's madcap band of thieves, who claim to steal only for ethical reasons. But even the most respectable ladies can hide truly surprising secrets, and AJ finds she must decide for herself what it means to be one of the good guys.
The Final Kingdom (TombQuest #5) By Michael Northrop
From the team that brought you The 39 Clues and Spirit Animals comes book 5 in an epic adventure filled with the magic of ancient Egypt! Get ready for the battle that will shake the world--and the afterworld. In the epic conclusion to Alex and Ren's quest, they must face off against the Death Walkers, The Order, and an army raised from the dead. Can Alex put an end to the chaos and send these evil spirits back where they belong -- without putting an end to his own life?
Summerlost
By Ally Condie
It's the first real summer since the devastating accident that killed Cedar's father and younger brother, Ben. But now Cedar and what’s left of her family are returning to the town of Iron Creek for the summer. They’re just settling into their new house when a boy named Leo, dressed in costume, rides by on his bike. Intrigued, Cedar follows him to the renowned Summerlost theatre festival. Soon, she not only has a new friend in Leo and a job working concessions at the festival, she finds herself surrounded by mystery. The mystery of the tragic, too-short life of the Hollywood actress who haunts the halls of Summerlost. And the mystery of the strange gifts that keep appearing for Cedar.