The Littlest Bigfoot

Bestselling adult author Weiner (In Her Shoes) makes a winning children’s book debut with this witty story of outcasts coming together, first in a trilogy. With her outsize height and unruly mane of hair, 12-year-old Alice Mayfair doesn’t fit anywhere and longs for a friend. In a parallel narrative, Millie Maximus, a small “Yare” (“what the humans call Bigfoots”), longs to sing, chafes at the Elders’ strict rules of secrecy, and seeks to learn more about the No-Furs (humans). Meanwhile, Jeremy Bigelow, an ignored Bigfoot-obsessive, meets a fellow believer in a girl named Jo. These stories collide when Alice arrives at the Experimental Center for Love and Learning, a hippy-dippy boarding school housed in a former camp, where she fishes Millie from the lake and forms her first friendship. Weiner effectively raises the stakes as Jeremy and Jo escalate their investigations into Bigfoots and piece together clues to Millie’s true identity. Well-drawn characters, high comedy, and an open-ended finale will leave readers eager for the next installment. Art not seen by PW. Ages 8–12. Author’s agent: Joanna Pulcini, Joanna Pulcini Literary Management. Illustrator’s agency: Agency Rush. (Sept.)