Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a picture book biography of Emily Dickinson, a YA novel set in a virtual reality game, a YA novel in which a young woman avenges wrongdoing, and a picture book about voting.
On Wings of Words: The Extraordinary Life of Emily Dickinson by Jennifer Berne, illus. by Becca Stadtlander. Chronicle, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4521-4297-5. Butterflies flutter through this exploration of Emily Dickinson’s singular spirit, a visual leitmotif that mirrors her slantwise sensibility. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Glitch Kingdom by Sheena Boekweg. Feiwel and Friends, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-20979-5. Teens trapped in a virtual reality fantasy RPG must find a way to escape in this adventure novel.
Foul Is Fair by Hannah Capin. Wednesday, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-23954-9. A young woman chooses “avenger” over “victim” or “survivor” in this take on Macbeth for the #MeToo era by the author of The Dead Queens Club.
Equality’s Call: The Story of Voting Rights in America by Deborah Diesen, illus. by Magdalena Mora. Beach Lane, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-3958-0. This picture book is an outspoken tribute to suffrage.
Glad, Glad Bear! by Kimberly Gee. Beach Lane, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-5269-5. Gee’s Mad, Mad Bear turns glad when it’s time for dance class in this simple but emotion-filled follow-up.
In a Garden by Tim McCanna, illus. by Aimée Sicuro. S&S/Wiseman, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-1797-7. McCanna’s picture book is a rhyming celebration of a year in a garden, with supplemental material explaining how gardens grow.
Vote for Our Future! by Margaret McNamara, illus. by Micah Player. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-9848-9280-5. This picture book is a tribute to junior grassroots organizing that might just inspire a Get an Adult to Vote movement.
Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon. Simon Pulse, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-1754-0. In this YA “Beauty and the Beast” retelling from Menon (When Dimple Met Rishi), Princess Jaya Rao is the heiress to an old Indian kingdom, and though India is now a democracy, she still has to act the part.
Birdie and Me by J.M.M. Nuanez. Penguin/Dawson, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-399-18677-6. Nuanez’s debut follows a long tradition of middle grade novels about children virtually on their own, navigating a world of imperfect adults.
The Paper Kingdom by Helena Ku Rhee, illus. by Pascal Campion. Random House, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-525-64461-3. In this picture book, an imaginative boy observes his parents working the night shift.
I Am Goose! by Dorothia Rohner, illus. by Vanya Nastanlieva. Clarion, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-328-84159-9. In this picture book, when Goose asks to play a game that’s already in progress, other animals make room for the bird in their circle.
The Blossom and the Firefly by Sherri L. Smith. Putnam, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5247-3790-0. This historical novel, set in Japan during eight days in 1945, thrusts two teens in the midst of war into a charged romance.
The Music of Life by Louis Thomas. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-374-30315-0. Drawing loose inspiration from the work of Leonard Bernstein, Thomas shows one way that composers find ideas, and color-washed illustrations of Bernstein’s Parisian world have something of the charm of Ludwig Bemelmans about them.
I’m Gonna Push Through! by Jasmyn Wright, illus. by Shannon Wright. Atheneum, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-3965-8. Jasmyn Wright, educator and founder of the Push Through Organization, encourages readers to explore their potential, stretching themselves beyond what may seem like impossibilities in this picture book.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of February, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
