Hitting shelves next week are a pun-filled picture book, a middle grade adventure novel set in the 18th century, and the launch of a YA series set in feudal Japan.
Flame in the Mist by Renée Ahdieh. Putnam, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-399-17163-5. Ahdieh delivers a YA fantasy set in feudal Japan, where a resilient young woman defies class conventions and gender roles in a quest for vengeance and autonomy. The book earned a starred review from PW.
The Unexpected Life of Oliver Cromwell Pitts: Being an Absolutely Accurate Autobiographical Account of My Follies, Fortune, and Fate by Avi. Algonquin Young Readers, $16.95; ISBN 978-1-61620-564-5. With dry wit and a strong Dickensian flavor, this first installment in Avi’s Oliver Cromwell Pitts middle grade saga has an 18th-century British boy finding misfortune everywhere he turns. The book earned a starred review from PW.
The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya. Viking, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-101-99723-9. In this YA novel, Arturo is looking forward to a nice summer, but plans change when a large developer threatens his family’s business and a beautiful girl moves in next door.
Cyclone by Doreen Cronin. Atheneum/Dlouhy, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-3525-3. A trip to Coney Island to ride the Cyclone roller coaster ends in tragedy for 12-year-old Nora and her 13-year-old cousin, Riley. Moments after their ride, Riley has a stroke and is rushed to the hospital, leading to the discovery of an undiagnosed heart condition. The book earned a starred review from PW.
The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich. Feiwel and Friends, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-250-10713-8. In this subversive take on the quintessential YA love triangle, two guys—the clean-cut boy next door and the brooding bad boy—compete for a girl’s affections. But nothing is as it seems: the guys are actually secret agents, trained to follow a script and fulfill specific romantic roles, and whoever doesn’t win his target’s love will be killed by his ruthless employer.
Bulldozer Helps Out by Candace Fleming, illus. by Eric Rohmann. Atheneum/Dlouhy, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-5894-8. Fleming and Rohmann subvert expectations several times in this follow-up to picture book Bulldozer’s Big Day.
My Future Ex-Girlfriend by Jake Gerhardt. Viking, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-451-47541-1. The gang from Me and Miranda Mullaly returns for more hijinks and heartbreak as eighth grade comes to an end.
The Great Treehouse War by Lisa Graff. Philomel, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-399-17500-8. In this appealing faux-memoir, 11-year-old Winnie Malladi-Maraj is caught in a tug-of-war between her divorced parents.
Quicksand Pond by Janet Taylor Lisle. Atheneum, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-7222-7. Echoing the themes and tone of Lisle’s Newbery Honor–winning Afternoon of the Elves, this loss-of-innocence novel traces the delicate friendship built between two girls from different backgrounds. Irritated with everyone in her family, 12-year-old Jessie Kettel is in a “separatist mood” when she arrives at a rented Rhode Island cottage for summer vacation.
7 Ate 9 by Tara Lazar, illus. by Ross MacDonald. Disney-Hyperion, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4847-1779-0. Lazar’s (Normal Norman) hardboiled mystery picture book is narrated by Private I, a pink capital letter who wears a striped tie and fedora, and gestures with white-gloved cartoon hands.
The Names They Gave Us by Emery Lord. Bloomsbury, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-61963-958-4. In this YA novel, protagonist Lucy’s faith falters when her mother’s cancer returns.
What Are You Waiting For? by Scott Menchin, illus. by Matt Phelan. Roaring Brook/Porter, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-152-4. For a curious badger, a riddle set up by its friend—an early-rising rabbit—proves tantalizing and a little frustrating in this picture book.
Thick as Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner. Greenwillow, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-256824-3. Even minor characters in Turner’s Queen’s Thief saga have plenty of stories to tell, as she proves in this fifth installment, seven years in the making. This volume centers on Kamet, head slave and secretary to the Emperor of Medes’s out-of-favor nephew, who left Attolia when his scheme to seize power failed. The book earned a starred review from PW.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of May, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
