Hitting bookshelves next week are a picture book featuring an unusual show and tell, a middle grade novel that blends myth and realism, and the launch of a new YA series from a bestselling urban fantasy franchise.
Fairy Tales for Mr. Barker: A Peek-Through Story by Jessica Ahlberg. Candlewick, $15.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-8124-1. In her first solo picture book, Ahlberg delivers a lighthearted romp through several fairy tales, with cutout doors and windows helping guide the action from one story to the next. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Maybe a Fox by Kathi Appelt and Alison McGhee. S&S/Atheneum, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-4424-8242-5. Appelt (The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp) and McGhee (Firefly Hollow) create a blend of realism and myth in a novel involving a grieving child, ancient legends, and a mysterious fox, earning a starred review from PW.
Chuck and Woodchuck by Cece Bell. Candlewick, $15.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-7524-0. During show-and-tell one day, Chuck and his pet Woodchuck dazzle the class with a circus-style balancing act.
Dylan the Villain by K.G. Campbell. Viking, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-451-47642-5. In this picture book, the utterly normal Snivels find themselves the parents of an exceptional child – a supervillain.
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare; S&S/McElderry, $24.99; 978-1-4424-6835-1. In this first volume in the Dark Artifices trilogy, Clare returns to her Shadowhunters world with a YA novel set in contemporary Los Angeles, centering on Emma Carstairs, a Shadowhunter.
Delilah Dirk and the King’s Shilling by Tony Cliff. First Second, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-155-5. What should have been a leisurely dip in a quiet pond instead lands globetrotting adventurer Delilah Dirk and her partner, Selim, in the middle of a political conspiracy, in this follow-up to 2013’s Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant. The book earned a starred review from PW.
The Secret Subway by Shana Corey, illus. by Red Nose Studio. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-375-87071-2. Corey’s story of New York City’s ill-fated first pneumatic subway provides a venue for the sculptural work of Chris Sickels, aka Red Nose Studio, in this picture book, which earned a starred review from PW.
When Andy Met Sandy by Tomie dePaola and Jim Lewis. Simon & Schuster, $8.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-4155-1; and Andy & Sandy’s Anything Adventure by Tomie dePaola and Jim Lewis. Simon & Schuster, $8.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-4157-5. DePaola and Muppets writer Lewis kick off a picture-book series with a sunny story of first friendship, which follows a short, brown-skinned boy named Andy as he gets to know Sandy, a girl with round eyeglasses and a mop of curly red hair.
Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar. Candlewick, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-7922-4. Eagar blends a 12-year-old girl’s summer of change with a hefty dose of magical realism in this debut middle grade novel.
The Tree in the Courtyard: Looking Through Anne Frank’s Window by Jeff Gottesfeld, illus. by Peter McCarty. Knopf, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-385-75397-5. Gottesfeld (Anne Frank and Me) imagines that a massive horse chestnut tree, with leaves like “green stars,” was a stalwart, loving observer of Anne Frank as she hid with her family for two years in this picture book featuring sepia toned illustrations in McCarty’s signature style.
Burn Baby Burn by Meg Medina. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-7467-0. In this YA novel, Medina (Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass) gets gritty 1977 New York City right: feminism and disco in the air, Son of Sam, and – come July – the blackout and the ensuing looting and fires.
Jazz Day: The Making of a Famous Photograph by Roxane Orgill, illus. by Francis Vallejo. Candlewick, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-6954-6. In this picture book, which earned a starred review from PW, Orgill tells the story in 21 poems of a photograph of 57 jazz musicians – some legends like Thelonius Monk and Count Basie, some just starting out – gathered on a Harlem stoop.
Yaks Yak: Animal Word Pairs by Linda Sue Park, illus. by Jennifer Black Reinhardt. Clarion, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-544-39101-7. This picture book introduction to animal-themed homographs also works as a vocabulary lesson and a read-aloud. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Wet Cement: A Mix of Concrete Poems by Bob Raczka. Roaring Brook, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-236-1. Raczka (Lemonade) returns to the subject of concrete poetry with a gathering of 21 verses, in which he plays with the layout and form of both the poems and their titles. The book earned a starred review from PW.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of March, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
