Kids & YA Newsletter: May 2022

PICTURE BOOK

Royal the elephant loves a parade! But when he tries to bring his own style to his town’s annual parade of elephants, his new “sweet parade moves” aren’t as welcome as he hoped. So Royal decides to make his own parade. At first, only a lone platypus joins him and his boom box as he boogies down the street, but then more and more animals join in, and an alligator and a hippo even help them find a parade float. But when their parade finally reaches town, the streets are empty. Will Royal and his friends give up or keep marching? With THE PARADE I MADE, first-time author Liam McMahon and award-winning illustrator Carlos Aponte (Across the Bay, A Season to Bee) create a wildly energetic picture book about the importance of being true to yourself and finding friends who will celebrate with you! (Please note, John Rudolph is the agent on this project.).

From the author of The Remember Balloons, a Schneider Family Book Award Honor recipient, comes a picture book that brings similar nuance and heart to a new story of familial love. When Katie’s papa heads out on his boat in the morning to go fishing, Katie is sad to stay behind on the shore. Her papa promises he’ll be home as soon as the sun crosses the sky, so Katie settles in to wait for him. But to her frustration, the sun hardly seems to move at all. She’s sure that it’s stuck, meaning her dad will never come back! Filled with determination, Katie tries all kinds of things to reach the sun and give it a push—from being carried by seagulls, to making her own wings, to using the beam of the nearby lighthouse—but none of it seems to work. Little does Katie know that her papa just might be the one who’s able to get the sun to budge. A lyrical and sensitive story, THE SUN IS STUCK by Jessie Oliveros perfectly encapsulates the feeling of time standing still when you’re eagerly waiting for something on the horizon, especially a person you love. (Please note, Michael Bourret is the agent on this project.)

Leon the Lobster is a YouTube sensation with more than 18 million views on his first video. Now, Leon’s first book, LEON THE LOBSTER GETS A NEW HOME, follows in the feel-good footprints of other YouTube stars like Piglet: The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind, Pink Puppy and His Family. Filmmaker Brady Brandwood rescues Leon from a grocery store and adopts him as a pet, providing an aquarium of his own. Brady feeds Leon wiggling earthworms and clams to help him regain his strength after weeks in captivity, and creates unique physical therapy—jousting with tongs—to help restore the use of Leon’s claws, which a fisherman banded shut when he was trapped. A curious crustacean, Leon explores his new home with his sensitive antennae, gets irritated by his neighbors, the Minnows, and enjoys his daily routines: cleaning up algae; grooming himself like a cat; and putting his empty shells in a corner after eating—like loading the dishwasher. Bestselling author Sy Montgomery (The Soul of an Octopus) writes: “I LOVE Leon! His story shows readers young and old that all animals are individuals who love their lives like we love ours—and that the value of saving a life is far greater than a momentary taste on the tongue.” (Please note, Leslie Meredith is the agent on this project.)

MIDDLE GRADE

The Goonies meets Inheritance Games in this middle grade adventure that is sure to keep you guessing. Twelve-year-old River hates change. As far as she’s concerned, there’s been too much of it lately—and not the good kind. So, when River finds out her parents might lose the house that’s been in her family for over a hundred years, she’s desperate to save it. Honing her sleuthing skills, River jumps at the chance to find her wealthy neighbor’s missing Umbrella Cockatoo, Frank, and collect the reward money to save the house. Maybe if she does, her dad and mom will stop fighting all the time. With the help of her friends, she follows the clues from mysterious songs to secret tunnels and all the way to the hilly streets of San Francisco. When River finally finds Frank, nothing is as it seems, and all her plans for the house are dashed to pieces. That is, until River realizes Frank holds the secret to a riddle leading to a hidden treasure. But will finding the treasure truly be the answer to all her problems? One part heartwarming coming-of-age story, two parts mystery, Jennifer Camiccia’s RIVER TO THE SEA touches on themes of grief, family, evolving friendships and what makes a house a home. (Please note, Stacey Glick is the agent on this project.) 

 Cassidy Farklefitz isn’t a secret agent, but it’s not for lack of trying. She has all the traits that will one day lead her to be a valuable CIA asset: she’s inquisitive, tech-savvy, action-oriented, incredibly observant, and fluent in French. (Okay…she’s mediocre in French, but she’s only twelve, so calm down.) When Cassidy gets the opportunity of a lifetime to attend a legendary youth spy camp, she’s delighted to be able to try out all of her skills and learn new ones like lockpicking and password hacking. The camp is famous for its “secret agent mission,” a simulation where campers are immersed in a highly realistic undercover operation with clues to uncover, puzzles to solve, secret doors to open, and cryptic messages to decode. So when Cassidy is kidnapped by masked strangers and interrogated about a missing piece of intelligence that they’re convinced Cassidy can help recover, she is thrilled. But maybe she shouldn’t be. Because the more clues she uncovers about this “mission,” the more she fears it might not be a simulation. It might be more real than she ever imagined. CASSIDY FARKLEFITZ: SUPER SPY! is an incredibly dynamic spy thriller/comedy. Spy School meets Alex Rider by way of Dork Diaries, this middle grade novel from the hugely talented Jessica Brody is a non-stop delight. (Please note, Jim McCarthy is the agent on this project.) 

When budding baker and rising sixth grader Ruby Russo returns a priceless medal she found tucked in an ancient thrift shop cookbook, she expects the owner, feisty octogenarian Luella O’Brien, to say thank you at the least, and hopefully offer her a piece of cake as well. What she doesn’t expect is for Luella to throw a fit, and a pie—right at Ruby’s head! Unwilling to take a hint, tenacious Ruby is soon mixed up in a longtime foodie feud, and on the hunt for a stolen manuscript that might just be the greatest baking book of all time. Between her delicious new mystery and trying to survive middle school, Ruby’s got a lot on her plate—her parents’ separation is looking like it might be permanent, her nemesis at school is framing Ruby for something she didn’t do (well, okay, she sort of did it, but it’s a long story), and her best friend Mei has been acting really weird lately, especially about boys. As she measures and mixes her way in and out of trouble in MORE THAN MEETS THE PIE by food writer Jen Stevenson, plucky, plain-spoken Ruby learns a few lessons about doing the right thing even when it’s hard, the strength of forgiveness, and good old-fashioned girl power. She also learns that life doesn’t come with a recipe, so you sometimes have to make your own; four of Ruby’s favorites are included, from Fantastically Fudgy Feel Better Brownies to Why’s My Life Upside Down Cake? (Please note, Stacey Glick is the agent on this project.) 

YOUNG ADULT

When her parents christened Joan, it was with the expectation that her older sister, also named Joan, was about to die. But following her sister’s unexpected survival, the girl becomes known as JOAN THE LESSER, the title character in pseudonymous author Willow Bradley’s incredible work of historical mystery. Joan has now pledged her life as an anchoress, entombed within her local church’s walls, considered dead, but persisting in a life of prayer and contemplation. Joan’s entire worldview is through the narrow openings in her cell that allow for food to be passed through and for penitents to speak with her of their sins. And it is through these walls that she learns of the death of Alys, her childhood friend, found brutally murdered under mysterious circumstances. When Alys’s brother delivers his sister’s Book of Houres to Joan, she finds that Alys’s handwritten notes, combined with her own knowledge of the people of the town from before her entombment as well as through their church confessions, mean that confined to this tiny space, Joan is remarkably the only person who will be able to piece together the truth of her friend’s murder. JOAN THE LESSER is an extraordinary work that not only shows off an incredible amount of research into a largely forgotten Medieval practice but is also the ultimate in locked-room mysteries. In the spirit of June Hur’s The Silence of Bones by way of J. Anderson Coats’ Spindle and Dagger, Bradley’s novel is a sophisticated, literary thriller that unravels a mystery while also turning a keen eye to the historical variance of what being a teenager has meant, as it also explores questions of faith, devotion, and limits of different kinds of love. (Please note, Jim McCarthy is the agent on this project.) 

In the summer of 1976, 18-year-old Miami Gold Coast resident, international chess champion and soon-to-be Harvard student Ana Borges y Cardenas sails from the Keys on her family’s yacht—alone—to fulfill Tío Manolo’s dying wish to scatter his ashes close to Cuba. But as an unexpected storm descends, Ana’s catamaran is pushed closer to the island than she intended, where she witnesses a horrific act of violence on a nearby Cuban military boat. Panicking, Ana flees, only to be spotted hours later by a Cuban patrol manned by Capitán Gabriel Alarcón, a 20-year-old Angola War hero whose warfront mission was cut short by injury and who longs to return to Africa to continue the fight for revolution. After Ana’s boat capsizes, Gabriel and his men rescue her and bring her to Cuba, the island her family escaped in her youth. Convinced that Ana is not, in fact, a spy, Gabriel makes the bold decision not to turn her over to the authorities, and instead promises to hide her and help her return to the United States by any means necessary. From that moment on, Ana and Gabriel’s lives are twined together and romance kindles despite the impossibility of their positions on opposite sides of a vicious international divide. Award-winning YA novelist Ismée Williams’ WHERE THE PALM TREES GROW is a stunning work in the spirit of Ruta Sepetys and Liz Kessler’s breathtaking historical fiction for teens. With romance, urgency, political intrigue, and heartbreak, it is a gorgeous consideration of a lasting international conflict rendered on an intimate human scale. (Please note, Jim McCarthy is the agent on this project.) 

THE HARROW HOME FOR WAYWARD GIRLS has seen hundreds of young women pass through its doors, tucked away for the duration of their pregnancies on a secluded stretch of the Eastern Shore. Their homesick cries provided a haunting score to Grace Harrow’s childhood. Now, in the summer of 1947, the Harrow Home has been sold to a wealthy hotelier. Grace expects his daughters to be spoiled, decadent brats. She envies their money and freedom; she doesn’t see the loneliness of boarding schools and a succession of stepmothers. Eldest daughter Rose—unaware of Mr. Harrow’s abusive, controlling tendencies—is jealous of Grace’s easy confidence and bond with her brother. Grudgingly, Grace and Rose become co-conspirators, then friends. Which is fortunate, because not all of the wayward girls made it out. At least one is still lingering, living in the shadows, glimpsed in mirrors and watery reflections, and she’s looking for vengeance. To thwart the ghost, Grace and Rose will need to learn to trust one another. Because Grace’s father will go to great lengths to keep the Harrow Home’s secrets buried. And when they’re unearthed, it could ruin both their families. Rich in atmosphere, searingly suspenseful, and populated by exceptionally well-rendered characters, Jessica Spotswood’s new YA novel calls to mind the horrors of Anna Dressed in Blood along with the incredible writing and character development of We Were Liars. (Please note, Jim McCarthy is the agent on this project.)