Hitting bookshelves next week are a picture book featuring an odd couple who have different ideas about spending time together, a cat’s salty picture book Valentine to a new neighbor, and a contemporary YA novel in which a teen girl is the sole caregiver for her young sister.
Pete the Cat’s Groovy Guide to Love by James Dean. HarperCollins, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-243061-8. The white-shoed cat returns for more, in the newest addition to this picture book series.
How to Mend a Heart by Sara Gillingham. Random, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-553-51093-5. In her latest picture book, Gillingham follows the tend-friends-like-plants metaphor of How to Grow a Friend with a book built around the idea that with “gentle hands, the right tools, and lots of patches,” one can fix emotional hurts.
I Love You Already! by Jory John, illus. by Benji Davies. HarperCollins, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-237095-2. The odd couple from Goodnight Already! is back, and little has changed: Bear just wants a quiet morning, and Duck, who has enough enthusiasm for an entire flock, insists that they spend “quality time” together.
This Raging Light by Estelle Laure. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-544-53429-2. Laure’s YA debut tells the story of 17-year-old Lucille, struggling to care for her young sister with both parents gone, while also developing feelings for her childhood friend.
I’ll Never Let You Go by Smriti Prasadam-Halls and Alison Brown. Bloomsbury, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-61963-922-5. A picture book in rhyming couplets celebrates unconditional love between animal families.
Here Comes Valentine Cat by Deborah Underwood, illus. by Claudia Rueda. Dial, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-525-42915-9. The latest from Underwood and Rueda’s sly, sarcastic character has Cat unenthused about the new neighbor: a slobbering dog.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of December, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
