Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a picture book set in Puerto Rico, a retelling of a Persian folktale, a YA novel about a girl in a gang, and a story celebrating autumn.
Across the Bay by Carlos Aponte. Penguin Workshop, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5247-8662-5. Aponte (A Season to Bee) writes from the heart in this picture book rooted in his childhood in Puerto Rico.
The Tale of the Tiger Slippers by Jan Brett. Putnam, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-399-17074-4. In a graphically sumptuous tale, Brett (The Mitten) puts her own creative hallmark on a Persian folktale, “Abu Kassem’s Slippers.”
Becoming Beatriz by Tami Charles. Charlesbridge Teen, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-580-89778-5. At 15, Puerto Rican Beatriz Mendez has been a Diabla for three years, but the death of her older brother, Junito, at the hands of a Haitian rival gang and the increased pressure to prove her loyalty lead her to question the criminal, often violent path she’s accepted as inevitable.
Sweep by Louise Greig, illus. by Júlia Sardà. Simon & Schuster, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-3908-5. This picture book lesson about managing one’s emotions edifies, while Sardà’s illustrations lift the spirits.
Stormy: A Story About Finding a Forever Home by Guojing. Schwartz & Wade, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5247-7176-8. Accomplished panel artwork by Guojing (The Only Child) tells a wordless story about a young woman who spots a shaggy stray dog in a park. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
The Fate of Fausto: A Painted Fable by Oliver Jeffers. Philomel, $24.99; ISBN 978-0-593-11501-5. Jeffers’s dark picture book fable imagines what happens when desire leads to selfishness and self-destruction, and shows the merits of calm refusal in the face of dangerous individuals.
The Grace Year by Kim Liggett. Wednesday, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-14544-4. Women are submissive, girls are pitted against each other, and misogyny is the governing principle in this YA mash-up of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Hunger Games, and Lord of the Flies.
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera. Dial, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-593-10817-8. In this retooling of her YA debut, Rivera explores intersectional feminism through a self-described “closeted Puerto-Rican baby-dyke from the Bronx.” The novel earned a starred review from PW.
Five Minutes: (That’s a Lot of Time) (No, It’s Not) (Yes, It Is) by Liz Garton Scanlon and Audrey Vernick, illus. by Olivier Tallec. Putnam, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-525-51631-6. “Time is relative” serves as this picture book’s premise and punch line as readers follow a boy with round eyes through his day.
Snowflake, AZ by Marcus Sedgwick. Norton, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-324-00441-7. In a note to readers, Sedgwick (Saint Death) cites his own bout with a “disputed” chronic illness as an inspiration for this cautionary tale. The YA novel earned a starred review from PW.
Everyone Counts by Judy Sierra, illus. by Marc Brown. Knopf, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-525-64620-4. The double meaning of its title sets the clever tenor of this picture book’s contents, as playful cumulative verse and peppy gouache and pencil illustrations reveal a menagerie of industrious critters transforming an abandoned mall into a zoo.
The Phone Booth in Mr. Hirota’s Garden by Heather Smith, illus. by Rachel Wada. Orca, $19.95; ISBN 978-1-4598-2103-3. In a story based on a garden telephone booth and the 2011 tsunami that hit Japan, Smith (The Agony of Bun O’Keefe) imagines the friendship between a boy and his neighbor. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Fly! by Mark Teague. Beach Lane, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-5128-5. Many picture books feature young birds who refuse to fly, but Teague (Felipe and Claudette) takes the genre to new heights with this wordless picture book. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Guts by Raina Telgemeier. Graphix, $24.99; ISBN 978-0-545-85251-7. With disarming candor and in her now instantly recognizable panel artwork, Eisner Award–winner Telgemeier weaves a tangle of personal preadolescent traumas into another compelling graphic memoir. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Born to Draw Comics: The Story of Charles Schulz and the Creation of Peanuts by Ginger Wadsworth, illus. by Craig Orback. Holt/Ottaviano, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-17373-7. Fittingly, pictures and text pull equal weight in this warm and perceptive portrait of Schulz’s life.
City of Beasts by Corrie Wang. Freeform, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-368-02662-8. After a nuclear event leaves the world in ruins, the women (“fees”) of Buffalo gather for safety and form a women’s-only community on an isolated island.
The Babysitters Coven by Kate Williams. Delacorte, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-5257-0737-0. Seventeen-year-old Esme Pearl’s staid life filled with babysitting gigs takes a turn for the weird when she begins to worry she might be causing things to happen with her mind.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of September, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
