Summer 2019

August 28, 2019

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Happy Book

Birthday

LLAMA LLAMA MESS MESS MESS

Viking / Penguin Random House

The newest in the beloved 
NYT Bestselling series
by

Anna Dewdney

and
Reed Duncan
Longtime partner of Anna Dewdney and co-creator and an executive producer/writer for the “Llama Llama” animated Netflix television series–
going into its 2nd season soon!

(Illus. by JT Morrow)


Click image above to check out the trailer
–with Llama Llama’s Cleaning Song

“Cooperation makes cleaning go much faster—particularly with friendly, rhyming llamas to show the way.”  KIRKUS


(Llama Llama with Reed Duncan and fan)
To celebrate– 
Our lovable Llama Llama 
will head out on tour,
visiting 14 cities in over six weeks!*

Starting with:
Aug. 29 Green Bean Books 3:30 pm 
Portland, OR

Aug. 31 Towne Book Center 12 noon
Collegeville, PA

Sept. 4  BookPeople 10:30AM
Austin, TX

Sept. 6  A Likely Story 6PM
Sykesville, MD

Sept. 7  The King’s English 11AM
Salt Lake City, UT

*See @AnnaDewdney on Twitter for full tour dates. 

Each store will feature special
Llama Llama Mess Mess Mess

story time events,
photo ops, and MESSy games…

…and this fun Clean up Chart as well as reproducible activities:

Time to pick up all your toys!
Why is Mama making noise?
Mama says it’s cleaning day.
Llama only wants to play. 

… with snappy rhythms and a twinkle in Mama’s eye … returning to Llama Llama and Mama’s relationship feels like home.” KIRKUS

A B&N August Best New Picture Book


Featured in PW’s Noteworthy Picture Book Sequels July/August


In other “Brightly” LLAMA-licious news:


LLAMA LLAMA RED PAJAMA 
is featured in Brightly’s 

14 Must-have Books for Three-year-olds 



9 Engaging Activity Books for Kids:


ANIMALICIOUS indeed!

Happy Book

Birthday

TINY BROWN MONKEY
ON THE
BIG BLUE EARTH

 

Non-fiction picture book;
first in a series

Illustrated by
Luciana Navarro Powell


Tory Christie

Starting with a tiny brown monkey in the middle of a jungle, this unique geography perspective shows ever-widening views from mountain to village to city, to country, continent, ocean, and planet.


Click image to view trailer. 

Luciana’s gorgeous images of this luscious jungle are even more poignant with the fires we’ve been seeing lately…

Luciana Navarro Powell grew up in Brazil, but now lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two sons. She goes back to Brazil once a year so her sons can try to spot little brown monkeys in their grandparents’ backyard.

Stay tuned for the companion volume, Tory Christie’s A LITTLE ROUND PANDA ON THE BIG BLUE EARTH, illustrated by Luciana,
soon!


Happy Book

Birthday 


 

MOLDILOCKS AND THE THREE SCARES,
A Zombie Tale 

by

Lynne Marie

Sterling

Illus. by 
David Rodriguez Lorenzo

A zombie-tastic take on a favorite fairy tale!


“The traditional fairy tale gets a Halloween update and an adoption twist…

Lorenzo’s acrylic-and-colored-pencil illustrations feature rich and vivid colors; lots of bones, skulls, and spiderwebs make up most of the home’s ambience.

How this unusual family finds exactly what they were missing makes for a satisfying tale.”

Click image below to view trailer :

Forget Goldilocks and the three bears—MOLDILOCKS and the THREE SCARES are here, in a delightful new version of the popular story. Papa Scare (a monster), Mama Scare (a mummy), and Baby Scare (a vampire) live in a haunted house where they eat finger sandwiches and alpha-bat soup. One night, they go out to walk their dog (a bloodhound, of course) to let their soup cool down. While they’re away, in walks the zombie Moldilocks, looking for food, a chair, and a bed that’s just right.
 

Kids will love this hauntingly funny story with its surprise ending!


“Mama’s sarcophagus is too tight, but Baby’s chair made of bones is just right … This wittily weird book is
‘JUST RIGHT’ for readers
with a
sense of humor.”

Next up from Lynn Marie:  LET’S EAT!  MEALTIME AROUND THE WORLD (Beaming Books/ Illus. Parwinder Singh / Nov. 2019)

Happy Book

Birthday

WITCHY KINGDOM

by
D. J. Butler 

Baen 

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

The third book in Butler’s 
DRAGON AWARD nominated
WITCHY WAR series…

epic flintlock adult fantasy novels set in an alternate nineteenth century America ruled by ancient gods.

The Dragon Awards are a set of literary and media awards voted on by fandom and presented annually by Dragon Con for excellence in various categories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror novels, movies, television, and games.

Both WITCHY WINTER and WITCHY EYE were nominated for best alternate history novel at the Dragon Awards.

Witchy Eye is an intricate and imaginative alternate history with a cast of characters and quirky situations that would make a Dickens novel proud.” —Kevin J. Anderson


Fans of epic and alternate historical fantasy will savor this tale (WITCHY WINTER) of witchery and intrigue.”—PW

And CONGRATS!

WITCHY WINTER is a 2018 Whitney Award winner for Speculative Fiction


… as well as a 2018 AML (Association for Mormon Letters) award-winner.


 


Happy Book

Birthday


PETE THE CAT’S
TRIP TO THE SUPERMARKET 

By NYT Best Selling creators
Kimberly and James Dean 

Harper Festival

Coming in September:
PETE THE CAT 
AND THE PERFECT PIZZA PARTY!


 

Acquisitions
and Licensing

PJ Library has licensed a premium paperback edition of Sarah Scheerger’s debut MG school-based story with heart, OPERATION FROG EFFECT (Random House), illustrated by Gina Perry.

Macmillan UK has licensed UK and Commonwealth rights to Helaine Becker’s award-winning COUNTING ON KATHERINE:  How Katherine Johnson Saved Apollo 13 (Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt), illustrated by Dow Phumiruk.


Whitney Lee of the Fielding Agency has licensed Korean rights to Thunderbird for Patricia Newman’s NUGGET ON THE FLIGHT DECK, illustrated by Aaron Zenz.
 


Where’s East/West? 

Ernesto Cisneros (Efrén Divided) is scheduled to present at the southern California Independent 
Booksellers Association’s Fall Breakfast at the Sheraton LA in San Gabriel on September 28th at 8:30 am
.

 

Joshua Pruett  & Scott Peterson’s SHIPWRECKERS (Disney) Is a featured title during B&N’s August Kids’ Book National Hangout.


PW Deal Announcements 


 


Where’s East/West?


Fabulous to see so many of Team East/West at our annual soiree 
during SCBWI 2109 in Los Angeles.

More SCBWI East/West sightings:
     
With Viking and Philomel Pres. and Publisher Ken Wright at SCBWI LA
and Carol Hinz, Editorial Director Lerner / Millbrook/ Carolrhoda

    
DW with Gayle Pitman; Yuyi Morales and Jim Averbeck;
 Michael Paul with Antoinette Portis 

   
Ernesto Cisneros with Yuyi Morales; Brynne Barnes,
Deborah Warren, and Chronicle Editor Melissa Manlove

  
Dow Phumiruk, Stacia Deustch, Lauren Kerstein, and Sarah Scheerger; 
Kerstein with her pb debut ROSIE THE DRAGON AND CHARLIE MAKE WAVES. 
 
Erin Dealey during the faculty intro at SCBWI LA 19. 
Nutschell Windsor, SCBWI SoCal RA and founder of CBW-LA


Illustrator Highlight 

     
Mehrdokht Amini 
was featured in our July 
Illustrator Highlight.


Hot Summer News and Reviews


NO DEJES QUE DESAPAREZCAN

by Chelsea Clinton; illustrated by Gianna Marino
Translated by Teresa Mlawer / Philomel

is on the
Bank Street Best Spanish Language Picture Books List for Works Reviewed in Spring 2019

Further to NYT-bestselling Gianna Marino and JUST LIKE MY BROTHER (Viking):

“… What makes this story especially appealing is how the lovely mixed media illustrations, in which large swaths of gold color cover sky as well as land to evoke the African plains, engage readers by providing them with information withheld from the giraffe. Big brother is really close, either behind a baobab tree or following near by. Small images of spotted ears, tail, and then body peeking out from tall grasses are sure to alert readers that a predator is near while the little giraffe remains oblivious. Only the young giraffe confronts the small leopard that eventually appears and questions its intentions. VERDICT This reassuring story of new-found confidence will resonate with growing youngsters who are discovering their own capabilities. And they will relish being in on secrets withheld from the young protagonist.–Marianne Saccardi, Children’s Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA

Yes; sometimes siblings get along (and sometimes not):


14 Books About Siblings Getting Along (and Sometimes Not) | Brightly



HOW TO READ A BOOK (Kwame Alexander, Illus. Melissa Sweet/ Harper Collins)
is on the Indie Kids’ Next SUMMER List,

and received, as well, its fourth
STARRED review from Julie Danielson in…

  
Alexander’s Newbery Award winning THE CROSSOVER is moving up the PW Best Seller list again.

“The poems dodge and weave with the speed of a point guard driving for the basket…This verse novel delivers a real emotional punch before the final buzzer.” —PW   Best Books

The graphic novel releases 9/24.


Click image above for more CROSSOVER action!


And another star, this one from Booklist for Mariko Nagai’s UNDER THE BROKEN SKY (Christy Ottaviano/Henry Holt; October)

Pushcart Prize-winning poet and prosaist Nagai tells a story of courage and survival amidst the unraveling of WWII. If there were only one reason to read this book, let it be for Natsu. The child forced by circumstance to grow up to soon is an omnipresent figure both throughout history and in present-day refugee communities, where families are broken and it is safer to abandon home than it is to stay. Another reason would be the exquisite poetry, accessible to middle-graders but nonetheless stunning in its imagery, or the captivating character development of not just Natsu but Nagai’s tertiary characters as well, or the sharp historical lens through which readers receive Natsu’s story. Published for middle-grade readers but necessary for all of humankind, Under the Broken Sky is a breathtaking work of literature. — Stephanie Harper

 

 
Starred review from KIRKUS for SNOW GLOBE WISHES by Erin Dealey (Sleeping Bear/ Illus. Claire Shorrock/ Sept. 2019): “…think hygge in picture-book form… The feelings of community and togetherness are palpable.” 


Efrén Divided by Ernesto Cisneros (March 2020 / Harper Collins)
“Authentically told, and interwoven with hope, strength, and beauty, Efrén Divided is true to life and all too timely. A must-read for anyone with a heart. This book is a gift to the world.”
Sarah Scheerger, author of Operation Frog Effect


TREVOR by Jim Averbeck, Illus. Amy Hevron (Roaring Brook),
is a Washington State Book Award finalist.


” ‘Water, even when you try to fool me, I know you.’ 
Beautiful read aloud for introducing preK-1st to water and to observing/describing the world around them.” 

–S. Cummings 
Review includes activities 
for HEY, WATER! by Antoinette Portis 



Speaking of back-to-school, we spy Portis’ KINDERGARTEN DIARY and Dealey’s K IS FOR KINDERGARTEN
in this darling post from Kanawha Library, Charleston WV

LLAMA LLAMA MISSES MAMA (Anna Dewdney) and THE KISSING HAND (Illus. Ruth Harper) are featured in Romper’s
“15 Books to Read the Night Before Kindergarten”:


Coming next month:

Reed Duncan’s new easy-to-read series about a rambunctious, mischievous, and totally lovable bulldog, Rollo, launched by:

   

Go, Rollo, go!

  
And look who’s on the cereal box,
thanks to Kellogg’s and Penguin/Random House!


  

“Overheard”  at @EastWestLit on Twitter:


 


 

*CONGRATULATIONS ONE AND ALL*

We are thrilled and thankful to represent such amazing talent.


Artwork by Danielle Arbour