Hitting shelves next week are a nonfiction picture book for budding engineers, a middle grade novel about a boy and his dog, and a contemporary YA spin on You’ve Got Mail.

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-234870-8. Albertalli’s follow-up to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda follows a 17-year-old girl with no romantic experience, and the fissure that develops between her and her more confident sister.

The Inconceivable Life of Quinn by Marianna Baer. Amulet, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-4197-2302-5. In this YA novel, Quinn Cutler, the 16-year-old daughter of a writer running for U.S. Congress, is shocked to learn that she’s pregnant. She’s never had sex, at least not as far as she can remember. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Rosie Revere’s Big Project Book for Bold Engineers by Andrea Beaty, illus. by David Roberts. Abrams, $14.95 paper; ISBN 978-1-4197-1910-3. This spin-off of Beaty and Roberts’s Rosie Revere, Engineer aims to get children asking questions, finding treasure where others see trash, and dreaming up solutions for such real-world “problems” as figuring out how to open a door with one’s elbow.

Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett. Simon Pulse, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-7877-9. A year after her mother divorces to marry a lawyer, Bailey decides to leave Washington, D.C., to live with her father in California. One of her primary motives for going is to track down Alex, a boy she met online but has never seen in person, in this YA version of You’ve Got Mail.

A Time to Act: John F. Kennedy’s Big Speech by Shana Corey, illus. by R. Gregory Christie. NorthSouth, $18.95; ISBN 978-0-7358-4275-5. Corey (The Secret Subway) and Christie (Freedom in Congo Square) celebrate the birthday centenary of John F. Kennedy with a picture book biography primarily focused on the former president’s evolving stance on the topic of civil rights.

The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors by Drew Daywalt, illus. by Adam Rex. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-243889-8. Daywalt’s text, set in a range of expressive fonts, alongside Rex’s dramatic battle scenes, tells the story of three worthy adversaries in competition. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Ashes to Asheville by Sarah Dooley. Putnam, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-399-16504-7. In this middle grade novel, a girl processes her grief over losing her mother with relatives in a new town. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Olivia the Spy by Ian Falconer. Atheneum/Dlouhy, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-5795-8. Olivia is back after a five-year absence, and at first glance she seems as fierce as ever (“Mommy, I know how to use the blender,” she says, before wreaking blueberry smoothie havoc on the kitchen). But Olivia soon senses that in her mother’s eyes, a kind of behavioral Rubicon has been crossed.

Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-39403-1. In this YA science fiction novel from Gray (the Firebird trilogy), resources are scarce, humans populate multiple planets, and a colony world called Genesis is battling Earth for independence. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Be Quiet! by Ryan T. Higgins. Disney-Hyperion, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4847-3162-8. Rupert the mouse sets out to create a wordless picture book (“They’re very artistic”), but his talkative sidekicks, Thistle and Nibbs, have more than a little trouble with the concept. The book earned a starred review from PW.

A Letter to My Teacher by Deborah Hopkinson, illus. by Nancy Carpenter. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-375-86845-0. Hopkinson’s epistolary text and Carpenter’s flashbacks chronicle the evolving relationship between an impulsive second grader and her life-changing teacher. The book earned a starred review from PW.

But Then I Came Back by Estelle Laure. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-544-53126-0. If you’re in a coma, where are you? Is there a place between life and death? Unanswerable questions, but not for 17-year-old Eden Jones, a type-A ballerina who hits her head and nearly drowns. When she wakes up after a month, she has another question to face: what’s it like to get your old life back?

Touch the Earth by Julian Lennon, with Bart Davis, illus. by Smiljana Coh. Sky Pony, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5107-2083-1. Lennon’s debut picture book, the first in a planned trilogy, asks readers to hop aboard a magical airplane, the White Feather Flier (a name inspired by his father and his own foundation), and go on a “helping adventure” to protect the planet’s oceans and water supply.

Lucky Girl by Amanda Maciel. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-230533-6. The story of two friends with competing crushes on the same boy escalates during a drunken encounter after a tornado.

Balderdash!: John Newbery and the Boisterous Birth of Children’s Books by Michelle Markel, illus. by Nancy Carpenter. Chronicle, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-8118-7922-4. “Lucky, lucky reader. Be glad it’s not 1726,” begins this tribute to publisher John Newbery. Back then, writes Markel (Hillary Rodham Clinton), children read “preachy poems and fables,” but Newbery strove to publish exciting children’s stories, a prospect that frightened parents: “Many mums and dads worried that if their little nippers read fun books, they’d turn wild as beasts!” The book earned a starred review from PW.

Flowers for Sarajevo by John McCutcheon, illus. by Kristy Caldwell. Peachtree, $19.95; ISBN 978-1-56145-943-8. In this picture book, McCutcheon follows up Christmas in the Trenches with another powerful story of a musical performance that defied the horror of combat.

Chester and Gus by Cammie McGovern. Harper, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-233068-0. In this middle grade novel, Chester is a chocolate lab and Gus is a fifth grader with autism whose family hopes he’ll be more interactive at school with Chester around.

Geekerella: A Fangirl Fairy Tale by Ashley Poston. Quirk, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-59474-947-6. In this pop culture-saturated Cinderella retelling, 17-year-old Elle Wittimer, unhappy with her social climbing stepfamily, pins her hopes on winning a cosplay contest at a science fiction convention.

Royce Rolls by Margaret Stohl. Freeform, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4847-3233-5. In this YA novel, Bentley “Bent” Royce, 16, is the attitude-laden bad-girl daughter of the Royces, a Kardashianesque “famous for being famous” family of reality TV royals. It’s all an act, though, and Bent wants nothing more than to shed her TV persona and go to college.

Gem & Dixie by Sara Zarr. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-243459-3. For most of her life, 17-year-old Gem has played parent to her younger sister, Dixie: their mother spends her meager salary on drugs instead of food, and their long-absent father offers no real support. Now that their father has unexpectedly returned to their hometown of Seattle, Gem is suspicious of his motives. The book earned a starred review from PW.

For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of April, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.