Hitting shelves next week are a new work from actor/children’s author Jamie Lee Curtis; a middle grade novel from a Newbery Medalist about contemporary families; and a retelling of a classic Russian fairy tale with a Brooklyn milieu.
Kids of Appetite by David Arnold. Viking, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-451-47078-2. Arnold (Mosquitoland) again showcases a memorable cast of outsiders carving out space for themselves, in his latest YA novel. The book earned a starred review from PW.
This Is Me: A Story of Who We Are and Where We Came From by Jamie Lee Curtis, illus. by Laura Cornell. Workman, $16.95; ISBN 978-0-7611-8011-1. In this picture book, frequent collaborators Curtis and Cornell ask kids to contemplate what they would bring if they had to move to another country.
In Plain Sight: A Game 978-1-62672-255-2 by Richard Jackson, illus. by Jerry Pinkney. Roaring Brook/Porter, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-255-2. Caldecott medalist Pinkney teams up with veteran editor Jackson for this gentle picture book about the bond between generations.
Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! We Are Growing! by Laurie Keller and Mo Willems. Hyperion, $9.99; ISBN 978-1-4847-2635-8. Willems’s early reader characters spin off their own series in which they frame stories as their favorites – in this volume, blades of grass compare the different rates at which they grow.
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy, illus. by Elizabeth Baddeley. Simon & Schuster, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-6559-5. Ruth Bader Ginsburg had ample experience dissenting and objecting long before she reached the U.S. Supreme Court, according to Levy’s spirited picture book biography of the second woman to sit on the high court.
A Well-Mannered Young Wolf by Jean Leroy, illus. by Matthieu Maudet. Eerdmans, $16; ISBN 978-0-8028-5479-7. Originally published in France, this wicked gem of a story from Leroy (Superfab Saves the Day) and Maudet (A Mammoth in the Fridge) proves that manners matter, even when one isn’t doing something terribly polite, such as hunting prey. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco. Jimmy Patterson, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-316-27349-7. Maniscalco’s debut isn’t for the squeamish: it starts with 17-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth immersed in opening up and analyzing a corpse under the supervision of her Uncle Jonathan, with no detail or scalpel cut spared.
The Female of the Species by Mindy McGinnis. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-232089-6. Three high school seniors come together in McGinnis’s harrowing rumination on the nature of violence and the power of friendship in a small town. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige. Bloomsbury, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-68119-076-1. Paige (Dorothy Must Die) pivots from Oz to fairy tales in this YA retelling of “The Snow Queen.”
The Best Man by Richard Peck. Dial, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-803-73839-3. The coming-of-age story traces milestones in Archer Magill’s life from first to sixth grade while deftly addressing a variety of social issues, including the gay marriage of his uncle. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter. Tor Teen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-7653-8054-8. Porter (the Lost Voices trilogy) reinvents the Russian fairy tale “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” setting the story in a darkly magical version of present-day Brooklyn.
Creation by Cynthia Rylant. Beach Lane, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-7039-1. Rylant’s illustrations for a simplified version of the Genesis creation story, adapted from the King James Bible, recall those from her Dog Heaven and Cat Heaven: wet, thickly painted acrylics in which childlike forms appear against milky backgrounds.
Elephant & Piggie Like Reading! The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat and Mo Willems. Hyperion, $9.99; ISBN 978-1-4847-2636-5. In this early reader, a group of animals want to share a cookie, but their odd number proves a challenge in evenly dividing the snack.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of September, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
