Kids & YA Newsletter: October 2020

NONFICTION

How do you raise a healthy eater? One proven way is to encourage kids to explore food with all their senses. This pictorially driven cookbook does exactly that with the help of a group of five enchanting, animated characters, The Small Bites. Each Small Bite has a unique superpower— seeing, smelling, feeling, tasting and hearing—and together they guide kids (with their grown-ups) through a multi-sensory food and cooking adventure. Written by nutritionist, Food Network personality and two-time James Beard award winning cookbook author Ellie Krieger, and Emmy-winning visual effects artist and children’s book author Carter Higgins, THE SMALL BITES GO TO THE FARMER’S MARKET not only has fun, fool-proof recipes, it also helps families move away from the binary trap of liking or disliking a food, toward experiencing it fully and openly with a joyful sense of adventure. The immediate result is a new, playful attitude toward cooking and trying new foods (particularly vegetables), and the long view is a lifetime of good eating habits. (Please note, Jane Dystel is the agent on this project.)

PICTURE BOOKS

For years, Toby the Chipmunk chewed sticks and rolled over for belly rubs. But it wasn’t until he made a dog friend and chased the other chipmunks that Toby finally realized the truth—while he might look like a chipmunk, he really was a dog! Now, knowing who you are is one thing, but making the world see you that way is not an easy task. And indeed, at first the other dogs at the park didn’t believe him—that is, until they saw him chase a ball and bury a bone. But when one of the dogs wonders about Toby’s human, Toby realizes that there’s more to being a dog than he thought. Jess Fogel’s illustrations have been published in the Portland Mercury, Yeti Magazine, and Le Petite Magazine. Her artwork has also been exhibited in group shows in Portland, OR; Brooklyn, NY; and Portsmouth, NH, and you can see more of it at www.stillbutunclear.com. Her warm and witty illustrations bring TOBY to life, and through his story readers of all ages will discover there’s more than one way to be a dog. (Please note, John Rudolph is the agent on this project.)

Magic is in the air! In A IS FOR ADVENTURE: A FANTASY ABC, debut author/illustrator Débora Cabral introduces little ones to the hallmarks of fantasy, from castles and potions to bards and dragons. Vibrant, inviting art in a distinctive and fresh style accompanies clever, playful rhymes in an ABC format that makes the perfect gift for nerdy parents—from lovers of fairy tales, to fans of big franchise fantasy, to tabletop roleplay and videogame enthusiasts and beyond. Young and old readers alike are invited on a journey to a fantastical land, where unicorns roam and dragons cuddle up with their hoards of gold. A quest is calling, and it’s time for a kid’s first task: to master the alphabet! To see more of Débora Cabral’s work, please visit https://dcabral.tumblr.com. (Please note, Michaela Whatnall is the agent on this project.

When a forest fire pushes Mama Bear and her two cubs from their home, they are forced to navigate a busy city in search of another mountain. Mama is out of her element, and her strength and speed cannot protect her little ones from a million pairs of bear-fearing eyes. It will take every wily ounce of Mama Bear’s courage to shepherd her two rambunctious cubs through the alien world of humans to the hope of wilderness beyond. But even if they find their new mountain home, for how long will it be safe? A thoughtful mediation on the environmental perils of which school-age readers are all too well-aware, ANOTHER MOUNTAIN marks the stunning debut picture book for author/illustrator Seth Taylor. Seth’s work has appeared in publications in the US and abroad, and after thirty years living abroad he returned to America to make a new home and illustration studio in Sturgeon Bay, WI. To learn more about Seth and to view his work, visit sethtaylorstudio.com. (Please note, John Rudolph is the agent on this project.)

MIDDLE GRADE

Twelve-year-old Crispin’s life is not quite ordinary. For starters, he spends his time travelling the country with his historical videographer father and the spirit of his mother, who died when he was six. What’s more, Crispin is a necromancer: he has the ability to summon, reanimate, and communicate with the dead. At first, it’s business as usual when his father moves the family to a small Vermont town to film a documentary about a mysterious murder that happened in a mansion there sixty years ago, but in Crispin’s life, thing never stay normal for long. When his new best friend Promise Stoll’s grandmother dies, the newly deceased woman warns Crispin that Promise herself has necromagic powers—and it’s crucial that she not discover them, or she risks becoming a target of the evil that has long-haunted the town. Despite Crispin’s efforts, Promise steals his necromagic supplies and accidentally releases the spirit of her great-grandfather, whose dark history is tied up in the mansion murder that Crispin’s father originally came to investigate. Now it’s up to Crispin and Promise to uncover the evil force behind the historic murders, and to use their powers to put a stop to the undead creatures threatening to overtake the city. CRISPIN MORTUS, NECROMANCER AT LARGE is a captivating paranormal mystery from prolific middle grade fantasy author J Scott Savage. (Please note, Michael Bourret is the agent on this project.)

 The mold takes all. Twelve-year-old Ary knows this better than anyone. Only a few years ago, the mold took her Papa, and even her famous, former-chosen-one Gran never found a cure. Every year the mold gets stronger, and every year the magic runs thinner, and the perpetual twilight of their starless sky turns darker. So when Ary wakes to Mama choking on a mouthful of mold, she decides it has taken enough. Armed with a bucket and a prayer, Ary sneaks out to find a magical, underground lake whose healing waters are straight out of one of her Gran’s adventures. But when Ary gets there, the lake’s bone dry, and instead of healing waters, she finds a confession: Ary’s world is actually trapped inside a massive terrarium—one they were meant to leave centuries ago. Worse, her Gran now reveals that she knew, and she hid the truth, dooming Ary and her generation to a dying, rotting world. Allied with only her failed-chosen-one grandmother, a doomsday-obsessed fairy-boy, and a particularly grumpy newt, Ary has one week to unravel the clues left by fairy folk long gone and find a way out of the terrarium—or they’ll be trapped for good. Rebecca Mix’s THE MOSSHEART’S PROMISE is a deeply thrilling, lush, magical, middle-grade fantasy that combines the stakes of The City of Ember with the creeping dread of The Bone Garden and the fantasy-horror feel of The Girl & The Ghost. (Please note, Jim McCarthy is the agent on this project.)

Twelve-year-old Juno Forrester dreads having to spend the whole month of July with her grandmother in Vermont. She’s never been out of Philadelphia before, the very little she knows about her cranky grandmother isn’t good, and the former inn that is Nan’s home is dark, dusty, and entirely too big. Even worse, Nan puts her to work right away, digging through an enormous wall of dirt in her backyard so that her rotting cellar can be saved. Things start to look up though, when Juno runs into Charlie Jameson, a quirky girl of the same age who, along with her little brother Puddin, hunts for treasure in the town dump and is obsessed with random, bizarre facts about the natural world. Charlie also tells Juno that it is widely known locally that Nan’s inn used to be a stop on the underground railroad and that there is even an underground tunnel somewhere below the house. Unfortunately, Nan forbids Juno from seeing Charlie again, as the Jameson family is known throughout the town as thieves and troublemakers. Desperately longing for a friend, Juno disobeys Nan, forming an unlikely bond with Charlie and Puddin and exploring what indeed turns out to be an actual tunnel beneath the house. Soon, Nan’s initial words of warning about Charlie begin to take on weight as Juno uncovers dark secrets about the Jamesons. And when the unthinkable happens one night – and all of their lives are put in danger – it is Juno, as well as an unlikely person from the past, who will have to figure out a way to save them. CHARLIE & JUNO is a lovely, heartfelt middle grade novel by acclaimed author Cecilia Galante that will engage and entertain young readers. (Please note, Stacey Glick is the agent on this project.)

YOUNG ADULT

17-year-old trans boy Max Madden thinks he can only be taken seriously as a man if he pushes people away. He’s soft with his best friend Jack, who has a panic disorder, but distant with everyone else and never afraid to confront his praying-in-the-hallway principal or his transphobic older sister, who’s one argument away from kicking Max out of their apartment for good. He’s prepared to fight his new Army vet government teacher, too, but he’s surprised when Mr. Carter treats him with respect and even more so to realize they have more in common than he would ever have guessed. Then Mr. Carter sets Max a challenge: channel his rage into learning how to use the law to demand his rights—and form the GSA he’s always wanted. HOW TO BE A MAN by Kirt Ethridge is a candid and compelling contemporary YA debut about the struggle to grow into the person we’re not sure we have it in us to be. Ethridge was a 2018 Lambda Literary Fellow and drew on their own experiences as a trans person from a conservative hometown to tell Max’s story. (Please note, Lauren Abramo is the agent on this project.)

Roland Aguilar and Jahliyah Johnson have dreams of becoming superstar rap stylists. They also share a white-hot attraction to each other. There’s only one problem. Roland is the top battle rapper for Rhymadiktz, the archrival crew of X-Flow—headed up by Jahliyah’s troubled brother, Tyree. As the two crews vie for attention at The Venture—the hottest hip-hop club around—Jahliyah and Roland secretly bond over their love of music and performing. In the battle game, where allegiance to your crew means everything, the young lovers are caught in the middle of long-standing tensions, testing their loyalties to family, friends, and each other. When hostilities boil over, their two crews find themselves battling for dominance and the right to continue to perform at The Venture. Whether young love can withstand this sort of rivalry is the focus of LOVE & FREESTYLE, Rod Pulido’s rousing Filipino-American, hip-hop-infused update of Romeo and Juliet. Pulido’s debut novel is brimming with romance, laughs, complex interracial dynamics, and the hardest-hitting rap battles this side of 8 Mile. (Please note, Jim McCarthy is the agent on this project.)

For sixteen-year-old Ophelia, life on Kauai is simple. Her biggest worries are training for the most important outrigger canoe race of her life and convincing everyone she isn’t in love with her best friend, Kalani. But when Ophelia discovers the body of a murdered woman, her peaceful island home is changed forever. And when, soon after, one of Ophelia’s crew members is kidnapped it forces her to team up with insufferable new boy, Easton, who hates everything about the humid, bug-infested island where his dad and stepmom dumped him. When Easton's pulled into a murder investigation with the intriguing Ophelia and his new friend, Kalani, things finally get interesting. Seeing a chance to get his abusive dad out of his life for good, Easton plays a dangerous game even though it puts a kidnapped girl’s life at risk. And when those closest to him betray him, he’s forced to improvise and trust Ophelia before he loses everything. Long buried secrets come to light, and the killer’s focus turns to Ophelia. She must fight to protect those she loves and find the killer before it’s too late. Can Easton and Ophelia work together to discover the truth? Told from the dual POVs of Ophelia and Easton, Jennifer Camiccia’s debut YA Thriller OCEAN FULL OF SECRETS will appeal to readers of One of Us Is Lying and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder. (Please note, Stacey Glick is the agent on this project.)

Agender teen Arrow has been shipped from Seattle to North Carolina to live with their aunts, and they’re not happy about it. As their West Coast friends go radio silent, Arrow’s plan is to keep their head down, with only minimal teenage delinquency—like sneaking out to eat at Waffle House at 3am. But when Arrow stumbles into a faerie party under a hill behind the Waffle House and unknowingly eats cursed faerie fruit, they suddenly find themself in grave danger. Spared from an eternity of faerie servitude by a cute half-fae girl named Clover, Arrow is instead bound to serve for one year and one day as the Baker, a role crucial to the faerie Court’s mysterious Hallows’ Eve ceremony. Suddenly Arrow has their hands full with learning how to bake from a strict faerie breadmaker, keeping the faerie king appeased so he doesn’t murder their aunts, and nursing their budding feelings for Clover. As Halloween draws nearer, the danger of the upcoming ceremony—and the mysterious one-hundred-year-old curse and yearly sacrifice at the center of it—only grows. It’s up to Arrow and Clover to uncover the faerie king’s motives behind casting the curse, and to save lives, including their own, by unlocking the key to breaking it. A contemporary fantasy centering transgender teens, BENEATH THE CURSED WOODS by debut author Ash Nouveau is perfect for fans of Holly Black and Aiden Thomas. (Please note, Michaela Whatnall is the agent on this project.)