April 2018

April 28, 2018
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Celebrating
NINE
East/West titles

on

Bank Street Books
Best Children’s Books
of the Year
2018

Under Five:

NOW
Antoinette Portis 

Neal Porter Books
Roaring Brook Press

and

LITTLE EXCAVATOR
Anna Dewdney

Viking Books for Young Readers 


HAND OVER HAND
Alma Fullerton 

Second Story


WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?

featuring multiple artists including Anna Dewdney 

Eric Carle/ Godwin Books
Henry Holt/ Macmillan

Five to Eight:

MAYA LIN:Artist-Architect of Light & Lines
Jeanne Walker Harvey,

Illustrated by 
Dow Phumiruk 

Christy Ottaviano Books
Henry Holt / Macmillan


 YO SOY MUSLIM
Illustrated by 
Mehrdohkt Amini

Mark Gonzales / Salaam Reads

Nine to Twelve:

ZOO SCIENTISTS
TO THE RESCUE
Patricia Newman
,

photos: Annie Crawley
Millbrook / Lerner 


OUT OF WONDER
Kwame Alexander,

Chris Colderly &
Marjory Wentworth
Ekua Holmes

Candlewick 


THE PLAYBOOK
Kwame Alexander

photos: Thai Neave
 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt


Congrats to 
Kimberly and James Dean's 
PETE THE CAT: BIG EASTER ADVENTURE 

Harper Collins

#1

TWO WEEKS
IN A ROW
(as of 4.15.18 / 10 weeks) 

on the NYT
Bestseller List 

and

Kwame Alexander's
Newbery Award Winning
THE CROSSOVER

HMH

 (as of 4.29.18 / 21 weeks)

The week of 4.29.18 
marks East/West's

185th week on the 
NYT Bestseller List

E/W held one or more slots for 88 consecutive weeks!

As to other category bestsellers:

A #1 PW bestselling picture book (on the list for 6 weeks), Anna Dewdney’s LLLAMA LLAMA EASTER EGG also earned a spot for several weeks on PW’s top 10 OVERALL bestseller list
(ending 4.09.18):



 

Ditto for PETE THE CAT, which was also a PW picture book bestseller for 6 weeks:


Happy Book Birthday

CAKESPELL

Award-winning
Gaby Triana's 
7th 
YA Novel 

"A coming of age tale filled with
family, friendship, love, anger, laughter, and tears. Gaby Triana draws you in and weaves a Cakespell right over your heart. From beginning to end, Rose's story is sweet, touching, and utterly magic." 
Alethea Kontis,
NYT Best Selling Author 

"Gaby Triana is a magical author who imbues this story with her very own spell-like dream."
Laura Hernandez, YA/NA Book divas 

 


April 30th is 
International Jazz Day

as featured in
"18 Muticultural Children's Books About Jazz."

“This jazz man, he plays one, / He plays rhythm with his thumb, / With a Snap! Snap! Snazzy-snap! / Give the man a hand, / This jazz man scats with the band.” In this lively version of “This Old Man” nine jazz giants teach children how to count, from Louis Armstrong to Charles Mingus. This Jazz Man, [by Karen Ehrhardt / HMH Books/ R.D.Roth] is a playful introduction to jazzcomplemented by energetic collage illustrations. Includes a brief biography of each musician.

Happy Book Birthday

ROAR
A Dinosaur Tour

by 
debut author/illustrator

Michael Paul

Crown Books
for Young Readers

Discover the different types of dinosaurs that once roamed the Earth in this nonfiction picture book with simple text and illustrations.
 

Intense hues light up a prehistoric parade … Paul makes each page turn a visual flash. Going for saturated hues and vivid contrasts rather than complex patterns, he sets red-orange spikes like flames along the back of a mottled aquamarine Kentrosaurus, places a small purple-blue Compsognathus beneath a towering Supersaurus that glows like a blown ember, pairs a Giganotosaurus' toothy head and crest in similarly lambent shades to a spotted green body, and outfits the rest of his cast in like finery.–KIRKUS

Drawing on his background in digital publishing and entertainment advertising, Paul has crafted an engaging introduction to the world of dinosaurs. An author’s note on the copyright page explains his use of a “wild and wide range of colors” is a nod to the latest research that suggests dinosaur species were more colorful than previously thought. Young readers will be drawn to these colors and the simplicity of presentation. Parents and teachers will appreciate the pronunciation assistance provided on the end pages. ­VERDICT  … engaging introduction … recommended. –Lynn Van Auken, Oak Bluffs School, Oak Bluffs, MA —SLJ

Here’s how OUR tour started – Michael Paul with Emily Easton:

Stay tuned for Michael Paul’s CHOMP – A SHARP ROMP

This gentle, warmly illustrated introduction to dinosaurs focuses on 15 species…rendered in illustrations that resemble cut-paper constructions. Peloroplites is a spikey green dinosaur that “lived alone.” Others, like the corythosaurus dinosaurs (which Paul depicts with bright, orange crests), “lived together in a family.” In a striking rendering, T. Rex appears in smoky, marbled black. Paul’s approach is more playful than naturalistic, making this dinosaur primer a good choice for readers just starting to have fun with mixing colors and shapes.

PW
 


Best Books of the Month: Baby-Age 2

Editors' picks for April

Amazon has selected ROAR for one of its April Best of the Month titles in the Baby-2 age category!


Also featured in this category:

Anna Dewdney's 
LLAMA LLAMA YUM YUM YUM 

Grosset & Dunlap


Happy Book Birthday

PETE THE CAT:
Firefighter Pete

by 
NYT Best Selling
creator 
James Dean

Harper Collins


Children's Cars & Trucks Books
 


 

We’re Counting Down
to 
these May 1st
releases (in part):

LLAMA LLAMA LOVES TO READ
by Anna Dewdney and Reed Duncan

(Viking Books for Young Readers)

Anna Dewdney’s Bestselling Llama Llama series continues with Llama learning to read!

Llama Llama learns at school. 
Counting, writing, reading, rules. 
Friends and school — there’s nothing better. 
Llama learning all the letters!

For every copy of Llama Llama Loves to Read  that is pre-ordered, Penguin will donate a book to early literacy organization Jumpstart!

Stay tuned for the national B&N Story Time event on May 5th, the Saturday after the release date…in all 689 stores!


NEEMA'S REASON
TO SMILE

by
Patricia Newman

Illustrated by
Mehrdokht Amini

(Lighthouse)

Check out the article Newman wrote for Parenting Today: "All Kids Go To School, Right?" and be sure to Vote UP so it can get a mention on the Today Show! 


Newman was interviewed with Rocco Staino of KidLit TV at #TXLA –about sea otters, citizen scientists, and her next science nonfiction book!
(Our links aren't working but go check it out!)

Fav quote from Staino: "I'm geeking out about this book!" 


Stay tuned also for… 

A CHURCH FOR ALL

by 
Gayle E. Pitman

Magination Press
Illus. Laurie Fournier

"…inspired by the Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. A humorous, upbeat look at a contemporary church community where all are welcome."
KIRKUS


in Children's Tolerance

and…


PETE THE KITTY
and the Groovy Playdate

by NYT Best Selling
Kimberly and James Dean 

Acquisitions and Licensing 

Cindy De La Hoz at Running Press has acquired photographer and Hollywood historian Mark A. Vieira’s pictorial history, 
Hollywood Wicked:  The Pre Code Era, 1930-1934 
for publication in Spring 2019 as part of Running Press’s publishing partnership with Turner Classic Movies; Their fifth book together after Into the Dark:  The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950, Cecil B. DeMille:  The Art of the Hollywood EpicMajestic Hollywood:  The Greatest Films of 1939, and George Hurrell’s Hollywood:  Glamour Portraits, 1925-1992 — and Mark’s sixteenth book in total — Hollywood Wicked will be a narrative history of the colorful pre-censorship days of Hollywood film making and the first book to act as a guide to the era’s greatest films, featuring newly restored photographs throughout.

Happy Spring!


Luciana Navarro Powell
Illustration

Happy Book Birthday(s)

to

Award-winning Illustrator
Mehrdokht Amini

CRESCENT MOONS AND POINTED MINARETS
A Muslim Book of Shapes

(Chronicle; Hena Khan)

From a crescent moon to a square garden to an octagonal fountain, this breathtaking picture book celebrates the shapes—and traditions—of the Muslim world.

"A thoughtful, multilayered offering." –BOOKLIST, starred review


 

"A beautiful picture book that simultaneously explores shapes, Islam, and the cultures of the Muslim people." –KIRKUS

The companion volume to GOLDEN DOMES AND SILVER LANTERNS: A MUSLIM BOOK OF COLORS (Chronicle / Hena Khan) included in the Kita B. World
“45 Books to Counter Islamophobia Through Stories:”

And from the “Celebrating Islam” feature:

This beautiful and creative picture book has luminous illustrations and lyrical verse that celebrate the beauty of Islamic traditions and everyday objects such as black ink for calligraphy and a silver lantern. A color-concept book that will leave readers young and old mesmerized.”

There's more!

Happy Book Birthday


NIMESH THE ADVENTURER

Illustrated by
Mehrdohkt Amini

Lantana / Ranjit Singh

Nimesh is walking home from school. Except…there happens to be a shark in the corridor. And a dragon in the library! And why would crossing the road lead to the North Pole? A fun-filled story about a little boy with a BIG imagination, Nimesh the Adventurer will surely make even the dullest journey a dazzling adventure.

Amini, the Illustrator of the Week at ChildrensIllustrators.com, was born in Iran and is currently living in England. Among other notable recognition, she is the winner of the Children's Africana Best Book award, and a Kate Greenaway Medal nominee.

Her image from
YO SOY MUSLIM
was featured in the
Original Art Show 2017. 


 



Happy Book Birthday

SPIRIT RIDING FREE
Lucky's Diary

by

NYT Best Selling Author
Stacia Deutsch

Little Brown

Written in diary format, featuring
DreamWorks Animation's
adventurous new Netflix show, 
Spirit Riding Free, and the
innermost thoughts of the main
character, Lucky Prescott!


Deutsch and 19 fellow children's authors who traveled to Israel recently
were featured in PW.

 


Happy Book Release

WITCHY WINTER
(Book #2 in the Trilogy)

by
D.J. Butler

(Baen)

Next in the adult trilogy which debuted with the stunningly reviewed WITCHY EYE.
Butler delivers another brilliant Americana flintlock
fantasy novel.

"Butler follows Witchy Eye with a satisfying second tale of a magic-filled early America. . . . Deep and old magic influences both places and characters. Fans of epic and alternate historical fantasy will savor this tale of witchery
and intrigue
."
PW

"For readers who love
history-based fantasy, steampunk, or urban fantasy…
this series…gives the genre a new twist."—BOOKLIST

Praise for Witchy Eye 
and D.J. Butler:

“… you can’t stop yourself from taking another bite…and another…and another….I didn’t want to stop reading…. Kudos!”
R.A. Salvatore, 
NYT bestselling Author

"Butler’s fantasy is by turns sardonic and lighthearted; ghoulish shadows claw into the most remote areas and heroism bursts out of the most unlikely people. Sarah is the epitome of the downtrodden hero who refuses to give up until she gets what she needs, and her story will appeal to fantasy readers of all stripes."—PW

"Witchy Eye is a brilliant blend of historical acumen and imagination, a tour-de-force that is at once full of surprises and ultimately heart-warming. This is your chance to discover one of the finest new stars writing today!"
David Farland, 
NYT bestselling author

"[A] unique alternative-history that is heavily influenced by urban and traditional fantasy and steeped in the folklore of the Appalachians…Fans of urban fantasy looking to take a chance on something with a twist on a historical setting may find this novel worth their time."—BOOKLIST

Support your local
Independent Book
Stores!

April Book Celebrations


Happy EARTH DAY

Congratulations Patricia Newman!

SEA OTTER HEROES
Millbrook / photos Annie Crawley

the recent Sibert Honors recipient

WINS 
the Nature Generation's 
#GreenEarthBookAward for non-fiction.
 
This is Patti’s second Award, following PLASTIC AHOY!  INVESTIGATING THE GREAT PACIFIC GARBAGE PATCH, most recently featured on The Horn Book’s Earth Day blog.

As featured in SLJ’s Scope Notes – “2018 Books from Sibert Winner” — next up from Newman: EAVESDROPPING ON ELEPHANTS (Lerner)

Congrats to Gayle E. Pitman's FEMINISM FROM A TO Z (Magination Press)

  

–winner of a Gold Medal / IPPY Award (Independent Publisher Book Awards 2018),
for Juvenile Young Adult Non-fiction.


The STARS are shining for Jim Averbeck's upcoming
TWO PROBLEMS FOR SOPHIA
McEldery
Yasmeen Ismail / June 2018

   
Including:

"Fun, clever, and empowering,
this is the rare case of a sequel that outshines its predecessor." 

–KIRKUS

Evanston Public Library calls Gianna Marino's IF I HAD A HORSE
(Roaring Brook)
 

“… a mesmerizing masterpiece.”


Nora Hilb is featured in ChildrensIllustrators.com's Talent Pool. 

 
Some may know author/illustrator Chris Gorman, whose picture book, ONE OF A KIND, hits the shelves on May 8th, as the drummer for the alt-rock band, Belly, who has a new release: Shiny One. The quartet includes singer Tanya Donelly, guitarist Tom Gorman, bassist Gail Greenwood, and Gorman.

ICYMI:
  
Fully Booked featured Shannon Hitchcock on their recent podcast about her new middle-grade novel,
ONE TRUE WAY, set in 1977 North Carolina,
as two seventh-grade girls fall for one another.


An excerpt from an interview with ONE TRUE WAY author, Shannon Hitchcock

In the book, you do a wonderful job with a few characters who have to reconcile their religious teachings with the notion of homosexuality. Can you tell us how you came to formulating those ideas presented?

Three books were invaluable to me: Defrocked: How A Father’s Act of Love Shook the United Methodist Church by Franklyn Schaefer, Crooked Letter i: Coming Out in the South by Connie Griffin, and When Christians Get It Wrongby Adam Hamilton. Once I had formulated my own opinions, I discussed my beliefs with the Reverend Vicki Walker. I knew I was on to something when she said, “You have no idea how many parents have sat where you are, struggling to accept their gay children, and how many children have sat in the same seat, afraid of disappointing their parents.” If ONE TRUE WAY can help those families in any way, I will consider it a success.

Hitchcock also answered questions on

MGM: With “Ruby Lee & Me” and now “One True Way” you’ve chosen to write about controversial topics of that time period. Why?

SH: All of my books have an equality theme. My first book, The Ballad of Jessie Pearl, is set two years after women got the right to vote, and it’s about Jessie’s right to an education. Ruby Lee & Me has a Civil Rights sub-plot, One True Way tackles LGBTQ issues…I’m an activist at heart, and the way I choose to protest is through my stories.


"Hitchcock sensitively explores the girls’ romantic relationship the story in relation to family, community, and faith. Allie’s feelings for Sam leads readers through the complicated tangles of adolescence life and first love, demonstrating that no one should have to walk alone and there really is no one true way to walk." 
— The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

 


"Homosexuality is not the only taboo topic openly discussed in One True Way; Christianity plays a central role in the story and its characters, a subject not often discussed in mainstream middle grade fiction. The depictions of people’s religious beliefs are quite diverse, reflecting the realities of differing beliefs under the umbrella of Christianity. The result is a gentle portrayal of differing beliefs, a welcome change from more heavy-handed rhetoric."

"These familiar pangs of understanding reinforce my belief that One True Way is sorely needed, for not just young gay and lesbian readers but for all young readers. Hitchcock has tried to create work that speaks to gay kids and those who care about them. But the best part of One True Way is the gentle tickle of first love, the moment when two people realize the other feels something too. When Sam and Allie acknowledge their feelings for each other and touch hands, the moment fairly lifts off the page, taking my young, romantic heart with it. One True Way works because it reinforces the universality of the human experience, in religion and in love. Readers are fortunate to have a book like this one."


Sarah and Ian Hoffman (JACOB'S NEW DRESS/ Albert Whitman) were part of a panel at the Association of Children’s Librarians conference at the SF Public Library: “Beyond Binary: Embracing Diverse Gender Identities.” They were joined by Leslea Newman (“Heather Has Two Mommies,” “Sparkle Boy,”), Alex Gino (“George”) and Maya Gonzalez ("They She He Me: Free to Be!”).


CONGRATULATIONS 
newlyweds Jason and Annette 
 who tied the knot this month!

Jason O. Silva's first film, Lonely Hearts Club,
is premiering next month at LA IFS Fest. 


Congrats Jason, on your recent Hollywood Magazine 
interview.


  

"Overheard"  at @EastWestLit on Twitter:

*CONGRATULATIONS ONE AND ALL*

We are thrilled and thankful to represent such amazing talent.


Artwork by Danielle Arbour