Little, Brown editor, Pam Gruber, with upcoming title Diamond Boy/Rocco Staino
April 1 may have been April’s Fools Day, but for the folks at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, it was all business as they presented their Fall 2014 list of titles to librarians—a list with plenty of big names. Director of School and Library Marketing Victoria Stapleton kicked off the event by highlighting Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones who has written an autobiographical picture book, Gus & Me: The Story of My Granddad and My First Guitar, coming out this September. The book is a family affair, with Richards’s daughter Theodora Richards providing the artwork.
It’s no surprise that James Patterson has a new bookKenny Wright Superhero out March 2015—a middle-grade series—will feature a black superhero and a graphic novel look with Cory Thomas contributing the illustrations. Teen favorites Paolo Bacigalupi and A. S. King both have new titles due out in October: Bacigalupi has a contemporary thriller called The Doubt Factory, while King’s Gloria O’Brien’s History of the Future is about a girl who faces the future by looking at the past. In January 2015, author Holly Black returns to her fairy tale roots with The Darkest Part of the Forest, which will feature a prince in a glass coffin.
Titles to be released at the Little, Brown preview on April 1./Rocco Staino
Previews are educational as well as being informative, and this upcoming November will be ripe with book releasesEditor Alvina Ling shed light on the walled section of Hong Kong called Kowloon, the setting for Ryan Graudin’s The Walled City which was described with a newly coined term “histopian” (or a combination of historical and dystopian fiction). Editor Kate Sullivan warned librarians never to board a pirate ship that pulls into an Arizona parking lot, as the characters in The Map to Everywhere did, written by husband and wife team Carrie Ryan and John. Editor Connie Hsu shed light on some lesser-known figures of the Civil War—including female spies and other “bad asses”—as she took viewers through Ben Thompson’s Guts & Glory: The American Civil War. Similarly, Jared Chapman’s picture book Pirate, Viking & Scientist illustrated that using the scientific method can be a great formula for friendship.
Editor Pam Gruber took us around the world with her array of new titles. South Africa was our first stop, with Michael Williams’ Diamond Boy. Set in the blood diamond fields of Africa, the work is a companion novel to his Now Is the Time for Running (2011). Next we took a look at the Australian outback, with Wildlife (September, 2014) by Fiona Wood, a story of friendship told in alternating points of view. Meanwhile, Andrea Davis Pinkney’s novel in verse, The Red Pencil (September, 2014), illustrated by Shane Evans, tells the story of a Sudanese girl who reclaims her voice through art.
If you are looking for a middle grade cross between the television show Lost and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, then check out Pseudonymous Bosch’s Bad Magic (September, 2014). Or if a cross between the films The Goonies and Holes is more your thing, If You Find This (March, 2015) —the debut-middle grade novel by Mathew Baker about three misfits that includes musical dynamics—should be added to your list. (Kudos must go to Baker who will be donating his royalties to school music programs.)
Some interesting authors were present at the event, such as Josh Sundquist, a paralympian and motivational speaker who’d lost his leg at the age of nine to bone cancer. Sundquist has written a memoir entitled We Should Hang Out Sometime, out in January 2015, which describes his awkward love life. (A quick look at his YouTube channel makes it clear that this will be an enjoyable read.)
My favorite title of the afternoon was Kat Yeh’s The Truth About Twinkie Pie (due next February), a touching book about food and family that includes some recipes—and may cause a Twinkie revival.
Picture book author Dan Santnat addressed the crowd at the Little, Brown Fall 2014 preview./Rocco Staino
The preview culminated with an appearance by author and illustrator Dan Santat, who spoke about Beekle, his picture book about an imaginary creature who journeys to the “real” world in search of a friend to complete him. Santat discussed the joys of fatherhood and described the book as a love letter to his young son. Attendees left smiling with an autographed copy of Beekle and a bag full of advanced readers copies.