Hitting shelves next week are a picture book about lemmings who will believe anything, a madcap and highly visual middle grade mystery novel, and a sci-fi YA novel about a teen seeking revenge.

October 31, 2017

Three Little Monkeys by Quentin Blake, illus. by Emma Chichester Clark. Harper, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-267067-0. Hilda Snibbs, a heroine who is a hybrid of Auntie Mame and Margaret Dumont, lives in a palatial Parisian apartment with three monkeys named Tim, Sam, and Lulu in this oversize picture book.

Now Is Everything by Amy Giles. HarperTeen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-249573-0. In this YA novel — Giles’ debut — a teen’s story unfolds in alternating chapters of her past enduring an abusive father, and her present, as she embarks on her first romantic relationship.

Have Sword, Will Travel by Garth Nix and Sean Williams. Scholastic Press, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-545-25902-6. The discovery of an intelligent enchanted sword offers unexpected adventure for two children in this middle grade high fantasy novel.

Polaris by Michael Northrop. Scholastic Press, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-545-29716-5. In a chilling tale of horror on the high seas, set in the 1830s, a scientific mission to the Amazon jungle turns into a desperate struggle for survival after the crew brings something unexpected and terrifying on board.

Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi. Razorbill, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-448-49390-9. Themes of belonging, self-discovery, and inequity round out the richly imagined world of Onyebuchi’s debut, where war and dark magic are around every corner in this YA series-launch.

The Witch Boy by Molly Ostertag. Graphix, $12.99 trade paper; ISBN 978-1-338-08951-6. Magic fans will welcome Ostertag’s graphic novel about a modern-day forest settlement where girls become witches and boys learn how to be shapeshifters.

Better Off Undead by James Preller. Feiwel and Friends, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-250-06648-0. After a skateboarding accident leads to his death and inexplicable reanimation, Adrian Lazarus is forced to start seventh grade as a decomposing and slightly smelly zombie.

Maya Lin: Thinking with Her Hands by Susan Goldman Rubin. Chronicle, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4521-0837-7. Rubin (The Quilts of Gee’s Bend) adds to her catalogue of artist biographies, succinctly chronicling some of the work of architect and artist Maya Lin. Published to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., which Lin designed for a competition while still a college student

Silent Days, Silent Dreams by Allen Say. Scholastic/Levine, $21.99; ISBN 978-0-545-92761-1. Say (The Inker’s Shadow) tells the haunting story of outsider artist James Castle, a deaf and autistic man whose talent was not recognized until late in his life. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Otherworld by Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller. Delacorte, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-101-93932-1. This fast-paced YA adventure straddles two worlds as it plays with familiar SF elements that include emergent AIs, virtual reality games, and evil corporations from co-collaborators Segal and Miller (the Nightmares! series).

Mutant Bunny Island by Obert Skye, illus. by Eduardo Vieira. Harper, $12.99; ISBN 978-0-06-239912-0. A comics-loving boy travels to an island full of bunnies (but completely lacking in junk food) in Skye’s joyfully wacky tale.

The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange. Chicken House, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-338-15747-5. Set a year after the end of WWI, this compelling debut places imaginative 12-year-old narrator Henrietta “Hen” Abbott in an impossible situation. After the death of Hen’s brother, her father moves the family from London to the countryside, only to depart to the continent for work, leaving Hen’s mother struggling with mental illness and cared for by a sinister doctor. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-50888-9. First in a series, Townsend’s spellbinding debut introduces Morrigan Crow, a cursed girl from the Wintersea Republic, who brings bad luck to everyone she meets and is destined to die at midnight on her 11th birthday. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Small Walt by Elizabeth Verdick, illus. by Marc Rosenthal. S&S/Wiseman, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-4845-1. After a blizzard hits, it looks as though Walt, “the smallest snowplow in the fleet,” will be left behind in the parking lot, unable to keep up with bigger plows in this picture book.

Here We Are Now by Jasmine Warga. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-232470-2. Sixteen-year-old Taliah has never met her father. Her mother claims that he is someone from her homeland in Jordan, but after gathering some clues, Taliah believes he is rock star Julian Oliver, who grew up in the same Indiana town where her mother attended college.

The Lost Frost Girl by Amy Wilson. HarperCollins/Tegen, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-267148-6. Twelve-year old Owl McBride is unnerved when her strong emotions cause frost to manifest on her skin. Soon after, Owl’s free-spirited mother, who raised her on enchanting stories of the fay realm, reveals that Owl’s absent father is the mercurial elemental spirit Jack Frost.

November 6, 2017

The Closest I’ve Come by Fred Aceves. HarperTeen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-248853-4. In a poor neighborhood in central Tampa, high school sophomore Marcos Rivas is more worried about avoiding his mother’s abusive, racist boyfriend than about getting good grades. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Pillowland by Laurie Berkner, illus. by Camille Garoche. Simon & Schuster, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-6467-3. Children’s musician Berkner (We Are the Dinosaurs) brings another of her popular songs to the page, this time serving up a cozy lullaby adventure.

Look! What Do You See?: An Art Puzzle Book of American and Chinese Songs by Xu Bing, illus. by Becca Stadtlander. Viking, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-451-47377-6. At first glance, Stadtlander’s graceful folk art scenes of American life appear to be accompanied by Chinese calligraphy; readers may be tempted to focus on the artwork and pass the Chinese characters by. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Not So Different: What You Really Want to Ask about Having a Disability by Shane Burcaw, photos by Matt Carr. Roaring Brook, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-771-7. Burcaw follows his YA memoir, Laughing at My Nightmare, with a picture book that offers an approachable and candid look at his life with spinal muscular atrophy.

Before She Was Harriet by Lesa Cline-Ransome, illus. by James E. Ransome. Holiday House, $17.95; ISBN 978-0-8234-2047-6. Beyond this picture book biography’s recognition of all that Tubman accomplished, the book serves as a powerful reminder of how all children carry within them the potential for greatness. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Read the Book, Lemmings! by Ame Dyckman, illus. by Zachariah OHora. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-34348-0. This latest crackpot comedy from the duo behind Wolfie the Bunny and Horrible Bear! stars three highly suggestible lemmings reading a book about their species’ behavior. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Snow Scene by Richard Jackson, illus. by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Roaring Brook/Porter, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-680-2. Readers move through and out of winter in a series of seamlessly connected acrylic paintings on canvas, guided by Jackson’s guided page-turning guessing game in the text. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Red Again by Barbara Lehman. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-544-81859-0. The Red Book, Lehman’s Caldecott Honor–winning wordless picture book, imagined a red volume that connected two children across a great distance. On the final page of that story, a child on a bicycle finds the red book. Lehman’s sequel starts at that moment. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Renegades by Marissa Meyer. Feiwel and Friends, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-250-04466-2. The night that Nova’s parents and infant sister were murdered, the Renegades—superheroes who protect her city—never came to save the day. Ten years later, the time has come for 16-year-old Nova to exact her revenge, in this futuristic sci-fi YA novel. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Hortense and the Shadow by Natalia and Lauren O’Hara. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-44079-0. This haunting, folk tale–style debut from two sisters combines delicate, wintry images as backdrop to a girl’s conflict with her own shadow.

Frankie by Shivaun Plozza. Flatiron, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-250-14299-3. Australian author Plozza mixes mystery with a teenager’s messy reckoning with her family history in her debut novel.

Kat and Meg Conquer the World by Anna Priemaza. HarperTeen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-256080-3. Two 10th-grade girls become partners for a yearlong science fair project in Priemaza’s debut, set in Edmonton, Alberta.

The Real McCoys by Matthew Swanson, illus. by Robbi Behr. Imprint, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-250-09852-8. Swanson and Behr — the husband-wife creators of Everywhere, Wonder and Babies Ruin Everything—track a delightfully topsy-turvy day at Tiddlywhump Elementary in this heavily illustrated middle grade mystery novel. The book earned a starred review from PW.

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