Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles including a picture book that explores math, a middle grade mystery series launcher, and a story about a curious resident of a hotel.
The Boy Who Dreamed of Infinity: A Tale of the Genius Ramanujan by Amy Alznauer, illus. by Daniel Miyares. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9048-9. Alznauer deftly uses the protagonist’s ponderings to illustrate complex mathematical concepts in this picture book.
Finally, Something Mysterious by Doug Cornett. Knopf, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-9848-3003-6. With the hint of more to come, the One and Onlys seem primed to become a popular trio among middle grade readers who enjoy an old-fashioned whodunit.
Madame Badobedah by Sophie Dahl, illus. by Lauren O’Hara. Walker Books US, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-1022-4. Mabel’s parents run the Mermaid Hotel, and she knows all the building’s secrets, but when a mysterious guest arrives, Mabel wants to know all her secrets, too. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder. Dial, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-525-55302-1. After the author’s mother dies of uterine cancer when her oldest daughter is 19, Feder (Unladylike for adults) finds herself longing for something “that cradles my grief without smothering it.” This YA graphic novel memoir earned a starred review from PW.
Alphamaniacs: Builders of 26 Wonders of the Word by Paul Fleischman, illus. by Melissa Sweet. Candlewick Studio, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9066-3. With a ringmaster’s rhetorical flourishes, Fleischman invites picture book readers to step right up and be dazzled by 26 “imaginers [and] tinkerers” who explore “the airy land of letters.”
The Lightness of Hands by Jeff Garvin. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-238289-4. Highs and lows come in big waves for 16-year-old Ellie Dante, the bipolar daughter of a down-and-out magician with a heart condition.
Freda and the Blue Beetle by Sophie Gilmore. OwlKids, $17.95; ISBN 978-1-77147-381-1. Dark-haired Freda lives alone in a community of farmers and shepherds who are full of gloomy predictions until she meets a blue beetle.
This Is My Brain in Love by I.W. Gregorio. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-42382-3. Gregorio (None of the Above) introduces Taiwanese-American Jocelyn Wu, 16, who is determined to save her family’s failing Chinese restaurant in central New York, and biracial (half black, half white) William Domenici, also 16, in need of both a paying summer gig and the “investigative skills” required to earn a more significant role at his school newspaper. The book earned a starred review from PW.
What a Masterpiece! by Riccardo Guasco. Eerdmans, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-8028-5539-8. This wordless fantasy picture book stars a boy who travels through one famous art and design masterpiece after another.
Deeplight by Frances Hardinge. Amulet, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-4197-4320-7. Equal parts dazzling fantasy, swashbuckling adventure, and coming-of-age tale, this ambitious standalone from Hardinge (A Skinful of Shadows) cautions against xenophobia, zealotry, and greed while using boldly drawn characters to illustrate storytelling’s power and fear’s role in faith. The YA novel earned a starred review from PW.
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko. Amulet, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4197-3982-8. In Ifueko’s YA fantasy debut, a woman known as “the Lady” commands a djinn to build her an invisible stronghold and impregnate her with a child who must someday grant her third wish. The book earned a starred review from PW.
When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed. Dial, $20.99; ISBN 978-0-525-55390-8. Based on coauthor Mohamed’s childhood after fleeing Somalia on foot with his younger brother, this affecting graphic novel follows the brothers’ life in a Kenyan refugee camp. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Baby Clown by Kara LaReau, illus. by Matthew Cordell. Candlewick, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9743-3. LaReau’s absorbing problem-solving picture book offers an amusing look at grown-ups stymied by a very small human.
The Cat Man of Aleppo by Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha, illus. by Yuko Shimizu. Putnam, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-9848-1378-7. In this picture book biography of an unexpected war hero, Mohammad Alaa Aljaleel stays in his native city, Aleppo, Syria, as war ravages it, and tends for the stray cats left behind. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
Plenty of Hugs by Fran Manushkin, illus. by Kate Alizadeh. Dial, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-525-55401-1. Two mothers and their toddler find joy in spending time together in this picture book.
A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Joy McCullough. Atheneum, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-3849-1. In this middle grade novel, two kids are separated from their parents on a hike in the Pacific Northwest.
Redemption Prep by Samuel Miller. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-266203-3. Miller (A Lite Too Bright) crafts a twisty story of ambition, competition, and manipulation in this YA novel about a girl who goes missing from a prep school.
Zero Local: Next Stop: Kindness by Ethan and Vita Murrow. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9747-1. Taut pencil drawings by married collaborators Ethan and Vita Murrow (The Whale) show how art can forge community in public spaces.
This Boy by Lauren Myracle. Walker Books US, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-0605-0. Divided into four sections, each representing one high school year, this coming-of-age novel chronicles teenage Paul Walden’s progression from naive freshman to senior navigating crisis and addiction.
The Boy and the Wild Blue Girl by Keith Negley. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-284680-8. This picture book about an imaginative boy was inspired by the life of a 19th-century Danish inventor.
Daring Darleen, Queen of the Screen by Anne Nesbet. Candlewick, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-0619-7. Nesbet’s middle grade novel about a child star of silent films earned a starred review from PW.
Flower Power: The Magic of Nature’s Healers by Christine Paxmann, illus. by Olaf Hajek. Prestel, $19.95; ISBN 978-3-7913-7399-7. Hajek’s assertively whimsical illustrations of flowers anchor this curious picture book compendium of floral folklore.
Elysium Girls by Kate Pentecost. Disney-Hyperion, $17.99; ISBN 978-1368-04186-7. Debut author Pentecost’s ambitious Dust Bowl-inspired YA dystopian novel pulses with dramatic scenes.
Meg and Greg: A Duck in a Sock by Elspeth Rae and Rowena Rae, illus. by Elisa Gutiérrez. Orca, $14.95; ISBN 978-1-4598-2490-4. First in the Orca Two-Read line of books, dedicated to instructing emerging, dyslexic, and English-language learner readers, this primer should appeal to phonics stalwarts and phonics learners.
Rescuing the Declaration of Independence: How We Almost Lost the Words That Built America by Anna Crowley Redding, illus. by Edwin Fotheringham. HarperCollins, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-274032-8. Fotheringham’s (Most Wanted) action-packed illustrations, hand-drawn and digitally rendered, bring to life a little-known piece of United States history.
A Game of Fox & Squirrels by Jenn Reese. Holt, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-250-24301-0. Reese (the Above World series) sketches a poignant fantastical allegory focusing on the tolls exacted by mental and physical abuse. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
It’s a Moose! by Meg Rosoff, illus. by David Ercolini. Putnam, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-399-16664-8. In this picture book, a family’s new baby is adorable, but unlike the rest of his human family, he’s also a moose.
Outside In by Deborah Underwood, illus. by Cindy Derby. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-328-86682-0. This picture book meanders between the worlds of outside and inside, and earned a starred review from PW.
Box: Henry Brown Mails Himself to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. by Michele Wood. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9156-1. A powerful assortment of colors, textures, and artistic styles illustrate this true story of how Henry “Box” Brown escaped enslavement in 1849 via a harrowing journey inside a sealed crate. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
I Can Be Anything by Shinsuke Yoshitake. Chronicle, $15.99; ISBN 978-1-4521-8038-0. Yoshitake (The Boring Book) strikes again with Natsumi, a high-energy girl in yellow pajamas whose bedtime powers of invention nearly defeat her exhausted mother. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
Witchlight by Jessi Zabarsky. Random House Graphic, $24.99; ISBN 978-0-593-11999-0. The bond between two young women, one a witch and the other a fighter, is explored in this graphic novel, which addresses themes of forgiveness, purpose, and community.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of April, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
