Among the new books hitting shelves next week are a follow-up to a 75-year-old classic, a quiet book about a tree afraid of losing its leaves, a historical murder mystery, and more.
This Is My Home, This Is My School by Jonathan Bean. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-374-38020-5. Bean (Big Snow) offers a humorous and informative view of a homeschooling household. The boy who narrates – inspired by Bean himself, as family photos at the end make clear – stands amid a flock of chickens and addresses readers. “This is my home,” he says. When the page turns, he’s still there. “And this is my school.”
These Shallow Graves by Jennifer Donnelly. Delacorte, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-385-73765-4. The book earned a starred review from PW. A historical novel in the vein of Donnelly’s breakout A Northern Light tells the story of Josephine Montfort, caught up in a murder mystery in 1890s New York City.
Mary Cassatt: Extraordinary Impressionist Painter by Barbara Herkert, illus. by Gabi Swiatkowska. Holt/Ottaviano, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-62779-016-1. Herkert and Swiatkowska present an enchanting portrait of an uncompromising artist, and from the start there’s no mistaking that Cassatt was uninterested in hewing to social and artistic conventions. The book received a starred review from PW.
The Iron Fey: The Iron Warrior by Julie Kagawa. Harlequin Teen, $9.99 paper; ISBN 978-0-373-21135-7. The final volume of Kagawa’s bestselling Iron Fey series picks up with character Ethan, recovering from his brush with death, amid an uprising against the courts of faery.
Eloise: 365 Days of Eloise by Hilary Knight. Simon & Schuster, $15.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-5937-2. Stories and anecdotes from the classic character animate every day of the year.
Death and Life of Zebulon Finch, Volume One: At the Edge of Empire by Daniel Kraus. Simon & Schuster, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-1139-4. In this morbidly fascinating story, first in a two-book saga about a young man who refuses to stay dead, Kraus (Scowler) deconstructs the idea of the bildungsroman. Zebulon Finch is born in Chicago in 1879, murdered in 1896, and inexplicably reanimated 17 minutes later as a walking dead man without the need for food, drink, or sleep.
Little Tree by Loren Long. Philomel, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-399-16397-5. The author-illustrator behind the Otis series celebrates autumn with a quiet picture book about a small tree who doesn’t want to lose his leaves. The book earned a star from PW.
Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev, illus. by Taeeun Yoo. S&S/Wiseman, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-1647-4. In her first picture book, Mantchev (Ticker) examines true friendship, alongside Yoo’s (Hands Say Love) linoleum block prints, when a young boy’s unusual pet elephant isolates him from friends, he meets other kids with equally offbeat pets.
I Can’t Wait! by Amy Schwartz. S&S/Beach Lane, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4424-8231-9. This story, told from three different family member’s perspectives, addresses the addition of a new sibling. The book earned a starred review from PW.
More Caps for Sale: Another Tale of Mischievous Monkeys by Esphyr Slobodkina. HarperCollins, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-240545-6. Seventy-five years after the original Caps for Sale, Sayer, who worked for years as Slobodkina’s assistant, uses scanned and manipulated images from the classic, and the late author’s other work, to fashion illustrations that are faithful to those of the previous book.
The Night Before My Dance Recital by Natasha Wing, illus. by Amy Wummer. Grosset & Dunlap, $4.99 paper; ISBN 978-0-448-48845-5. The picture book series continues with the story of a girl’s anxieties before a big performance.
Ninja Baby by David Zeltser, illus. by Diane Goode. Chronicle, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-4521-3542-7. “When Nina was born, the doctor gently thumped her bottom to make sure she was breathing. Nina karate chopped her right back,” writes Zeltser (Lug, Dawn of the Ice Age) in the opening of his first picture book. What follows is a humorous story about independence (and its flipside, loneliness), girl power, and sibling rivalry. The book was starred by PW.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of October, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
