Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a picture book about transience, a middle grade novel about two unlikely friends, an ode to a community garden, and a YA novel about an Indian-American teen with mythological powers.
Things That Go Away by Beatrice Alemagna. Abrams, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4197-4482-2. This simple, beautiful creation by Alemagna (Child of Glass) does what it says on the tin: looks at transience. The picture book earned a starred review in PW.
The Only Black Girls in Town by Brandy Colbert. Little, Brown, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-316-45638-8. Twelve-year-old surfing fanatic Alberta has lived in California with her fathers for much of her life. Her family is one of the only black families in town, until Goth Edie, moves in across the street. The middle grade novel earned a starred review in PW.
The Bear’s Garden by Marcie Colleen, illus. by Alison Oliver. Imprint, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-31481-9. A black girl sees “the big, bustling city” as “a place to grow, a place to play, a place to love” in this affectionate ode to a community garden.
Brown Girl Ghosted by Mintie Das. Versify, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-358-12889-2. Violet Choudhury, 16, is one of the few people of color in her very white, very middle-American Illinois hometown, where she works hard to fit in, getting grades that are good (but not too good) and participating on the student council, tennis, and poms. But the Indian-American girl is hiding a big secret: she is descended from a powerful supernatural Assamese warrior queen tasked to “protect the world by destroying the destroyers.”
Tigers, Not Daughters by Samantha Mabry. Algonquin, $17.95; ISBN 978-1-61620-896-7. Mabry speaks gracefully to the transformative power of grief and the often messy (even violent) road to letting go in this story of a Latinx family reeling from the loss of their sister.
Most Wanted: The Revolutionary Partnership of John Hancock & Samuel Adams by Sarah Jane Marsh, illus. by Edwin Fotheringham. Disney-Hyperion, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-368-02683-3. Marsh and Fotheringham (Thomas Paine and the Dangerous Word) pair up again for an engaging and well-researched picture book that provides glimpses into key figures from the Revolutionary War era.
The Next President: The Unexpected Beginnings and Unwritten Future of America’s Presidents by Kate Messner, illus. by Adam Rex. Chronicle, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4521-7488-4. Messner (Chirp) and Rex (Pluto Gets the Call) open with a flyleaf bookplate that reads not “This Book Belongs to” but rather “This Country Belongs to.” It’s emblematic of their core idea in this picture book of presidential trivia that “the presidents of tomorrow are always out there somewhere.” The picture book earned a starred review in PW.
Nonsense! the Curious Story of Edward Gorey by Lori Mortensen, illus. by Chloe Bristol. Versify, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-358-03368-4. Edward Gorey, the subject of this picture book biography, worked quietly in a publisher’s art department until he began to write and illustrate small, odd books himself. Bristol duplicates Gorey’s style throughout with remarkable conviction, capturing his long, rail-like human figures, and their haunted expressions.
The Littlest Voyageur by Margi Preus, illus. by Cheryl Pilgrim. Holiday House/Ferguson, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-8234-4247-8. In this spry novel, Newbery Honor author Preus deftly threads together a nature adventure, history lesson, cautionary environmental tale, and an animal love story. The middle grade novel earned a starred review in PW.
¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat by Raúl the Third. Versify, $14.99; ISBN 978-1-328-55704-9. Now that he has a bicycle with a sidecar in addition to his wagon, Little Lobo, the young wolf who starred in Raúl the Third’s first bilingual ¡Vamos! story, is really in business: “Now we can make our deliveries faster,” he tells his dog. The picture book earned a starred review in PW.
A Wish in the Dark by Christina Soontornvat. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-0494-0. Soontornvat’s (The Blunders: A Counting Catastrophe!) twist on Les Misérables, set in an alternate Thai city, sends the young protagonists through lantern-soaked night markets in this middle grade novel of civil disobedience.
Bad Best Friend by Rachel Vail. Viking, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-451-47945-7. This middle grade novel follows two girls navigating their friendship as they grow up in Maine.
Mabel: A Mermaid Fable by Rowboat Watkins. Chronicle, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-4521-5527-2. Mabel, the protagonist of this story, struggles with being the only mermaid without a mustache. The picture book earned a starred review in PW.
In My Garden by Charlotte Zolotow, illus. by Philip Stead. Holiday House/Porter, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-8234-4320-8. Stead (Music for Mister Moon) takes this seasonal poem, first published in 1960 by the late writer and editor Zolotow, and divides its lines between two speakers.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of March, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
