Some publishers use BEA as an opportunity to showcase an entire catalogue’s worth of ARCs; others focus their giveaways on just a few key titles. Regardless of which path the children's and YA publishers below have chosen for this year's show, here are plenty of reasons to make the rounds of the booths. (For adult galleys to grab, click here.)
Abrams
Galleys on offer include Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor, launching a scientifically minded middle-grade series by Jon Scieszka, illus. by Brian Biggs; yolo by Lauren Myracle, which follows her Internet Girls to college; El Deafo by CeCe Bell, a middle-grade graphic memoir about going deaf; Pink & Green Is the New Black, third in Lisa Greenwald’s Pink & Green series about middle-school makeover queen Lucy Desberg; Fleabrain Loves Franny by Joanne Rocklin, a Charlotte’s Web homage featuring a girl recovering from polio in 1952 Pittsburgh and an eloquent, lovesick flea; and Paper Airplanes, a debut tale by Dawn O’Porter about female friendship, set off the coast of France.
Algonquin Young Readers
Look for The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill, a middle-grade adventure featuring feuding kingdoms, a cursed boy, and the cunning girl who crosses his path; Jackaby, William Ritter’s debut paranormal detective tale set in 1892 New England; and the nonfiction Passenger on the Pearl by Winifred Conkling, which follows 13-year-old Emily Edmonson and the largest slave escape attempt in U.S. history.
Andrews McMeel
Titles from the Amp! Comics for Kids middle-grade line will be available, among them The Ice Cream Kid: Brain Freeze!, Todd Clark’s debut about an 11-year-old who gains superpowers from ice cream; and Muddy Max: The Mystery of Marsh Creek by Elizabeth Rusch, illus. by Mike Lawrence, in which mud is the superpower-providing substance. Phoebe and Her Unicorn: A Heavenly Nostrils Chronicle, author-illustrator Dana Simpson’s debut, follows an unlikely friendship; and Jeff Weigel’s Dragon Girl: The Secret Valley tells the story of 11-year-old Alanna, who discovers a cave full of orphaned baby dragons.
Annick Press
Shane Koyczan’s debut, To This Day: For the Bullied and Beautiful, offers in book form his antibullying spoken word poem, illustrated by 30 international artists.
Barron’s
The nonfiction title Breaking Free: True Stories of Girls Who Escaped Slavery by Abby Sher explores the global issue of human sex trafficking from a survivor’s point of view. And author-illustrator Justine Fontes launches the Cheddar’s Tales chapter book series about mice who have the gift of speech with two titles, Crisis in Crittertown and Showdown in Crittertown.
Bloomsbury
Among the titles for giveaway are Magic in the Mix, Annie Barrows’s sequel to her 2008 time-travel adventure The Magic Half. Also available are The Fire Artist by Daisy Whitney, in which Aria, who has the power to create fire from her hands, falls in love with a modern-day genie; E.D. Baker’s The Fairy-Tale Matchmaker, first in a fractured fairy tale series, about a disgruntled tooth fairy-in-training who sets out to find her true path; and Thursdays with the Crown, the third book in Jessica Day George’s Castle Glower middle-grade series.
Candlewick
With The Brilliant World of Tom Gates by L. Pichon, the publisher introduces the wisecracking title character of this U.K. middle-grade series to a U.S. audience. Other giveaways include Leroy Ninker Saddles Up: Tales from Deckawoo Drive, Volume One, launching a spin-off series from the Mercy Watson books by Kate DiCamillo, illus. by Chris Van Dusen; Egg & Spoon by Gregory Maguire (limited galleys; more at his signing), a fantasy-adventure inspired by Russian folklore; the paranormal horror-romance Evil Librarian, Library Lion author Michelle Knudsen’s first YA novel; Vango: Between Sky and Earth by Timothée de Fombelle, a trans-European adventure set in a world between wars; Ship of Dolls by Shirley Parenteau, which finds 11-year-old Lexie Lewis seeking to rejoin her mother, a speakeasy singer in 1926 San Francisco; the trilogy-launching The Name of the Blade by Zoë Marriott, in which ancient Japanese gods and monsters are unleashed on modern-day London; Winterfrost by Michelle Houts, a magic-tinged winter adventure; Terence Blacker’s The Twyning, about a rat and a boy whose fates become linked; Into the Grey by Celine Kiernan, a psychological thriller in which a teen must save his haunted twin brother; Playing for the Commandant by Suzy Zail, a novel set in Nazi-occupied Poland; One Death, Nine Stories, interconnected tales by nine YA authors, edited by Marc Aronson and Charles R. Smith Jr.; and Digby O’Day in the Fast Lane, launching a canine adventure series for ages 5–8 by Shirley Hughes, illus. by Clara Vulliamy, her daughter..
Capstone
Galleys on offer include the picture book Goodnight Football by Michael Dahl; Custom Confections: Delicious Desserts You Can Create and Enjoy! by Jen Besel, from the new Craft It Yourself series; Katie Woo’s Big Idea Journal: A place for your best stories, drawing, doodles and plans for fans of the Katie Woo early chapter books by Fran Manushkin; The Frankenstein Journals, a comedic diary-style thriller by Scott Sonneborn, illus. by Timothy Banks; Bewitched in Oz by Laura J. Burns, a coming-of-age fantasy set in the landscape of Oz; Chloe by Design: Making the Cut by Margaret Gurevich, illus. by Brooke Hagel, a middle-grade adventure for Project Runway fans and other fashion enthusiasts; the diary-style YA coming-of-age story Half My Facebook Friends Are Ferrets by J.A. Buckle; The Isobel Journal, an illustrated memoir by teen author Isobel Harrop; Wanted: Grace and the Guiltless, the first in a western revenge epic by Erin Johnson; and The Diamond Thief by Sharon Gosling, a steampunk espionage adventure.
Chronicle
On offer are galleys of The Spiritglass Charade: A Stoker & Holmes Novel by Colleen Gleason, which continues the paranormal mystery series that launched with The Clockwork Scarab; The Categorical Universe of Candice Phee by Barry Jonsberg, in which the title character must contend with a pet fish with an identity crisis, a friend who believes he came from another dimension, and other offbeat issues; Rhyme Schemer by K.A. Holt, in which seventh-grader Kevin goes from bully to bullied; and the car-centric Lowriders in Space by Cathy Camper, illus. by Raul the Third.
Disney
Fans of Jonathan Stroud’s Lockwood & Co. series can nab copies of the next book, The Whispering Skull, while Doll People devotees can reach for Doll People Set Sail by Ann M. Martin and Laura Godwin, illus. by new-to-the-series Brett Helquist. Also available are Smek for President! by Adam Rex, sequel to 2007’s The True Meaning of Smekday; Animas: Legacy of the Claw, launching a fantasy series by first-time author C.R. Grey; Alistair Grim’s Odditorium, Gregory Funaro’s debut, a series starter in which a chimney sweep finds adventure and a life-or-death battle; Hook’s Revenge, which begins new author Heidi Schulz’s Neverland-inspired series starring the daughter of the titular pirate; and series launch Zodiac, the first novel by comic book legend Stan Lee, written with Stuart Moore and illus. by Andie Tong.
DK Publishing
Two titles for teens are up for grabs: Heads Up Philosophy, which continues the Heads Up nonfiction series by tackling topics like “What is reality?” and “What’s right and wrong?”; and The Fashion Book, a style guide offering insider tips from designers, models, and other style icons.
ECW Press
Science writer E. Paul Zehr makes his middle-grade debut with Project Superhero, illus. by Kris Pearn, in which 13-year-old Jessie keeps a diary of her class’s year-long research project on superheroes.
Groundwood Books
The picture book Work: An Occupational ABC marks author-illustrator Kellen Hatanaka’s debut. The Elevator Ghost by Glen Huser is a middle-grade title featuring an uncannily competent, ghost-story-telling babysitter.
HarperCollins
Booth visitors will find copies of Septimus Heap: TodHunter Moon, Book One: Pathfinder by Angie Sage, illus. by Mark Zug, set seven years after the events of the Septimus Heap books; Messenger of Fear by Michael Grant, launching a paranormal series that examines the nature of good and evil; The Jewel, a debut novel by Amy Ewing and the first in a trilogy billed as “The Selection meets The Handmaid’s Tale”; Positive, Paige Rawl’s memoir of overcoming bullying after classmates learned she was born with HIV; Falling into Place by debut novelist Amy Zhang, narrated by the imaginary friend of a girl who attempts suicide; first-time author Jennifer Lynn Alvarez’s The Guardian Herd: Starfire, start of a middle-grade series about winged horses; Anatomy of a Misfit, the first novel for young readers by adult author Andrea Portes, about navigating the high school social hierarchy; and The Swap by Megan Shull, told from the alternating perspectives of a middle-school boy and girl who switch bodies.
Holiday House
At the booth are galleys of The Devil’s Intern by Donna Hosie, in which the teenage title character and three of his underworld friends time-travel to the land of the living; and Nanny X by Madelyn Rosenberg, about a ring of crime-busting caregivers.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
HMH booth offerings include Mortal Heart, the concluding volume in the His Fair Assassin trilogy by Robin LaFevers; Vivian Apple at the End of the World, debut YA novelist Katie Coyle’s story of a road trip across an apparently post-Rapture America; Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts, told in the alternating voices of two teen cancer patients in Perth, Australia; The Junkyard Bot by C.J. Richards, illus. by Goro Fujita, first in the Robots Rule middle-grade series; Dearest by Alethea Kontis, book three in the Woodcutter Sisters fantasy series; The Eye of Zoltar, the third entry in Jasper Fforde’s Chronicles of Kazam; YA author Elana K. Arnold’s middle-grade debut, The Question of Miracles, in which lonely sixth-grader Iris meets a solitary boy whose existence is a medical mystery; A Plague of Bogles by Catherine Jinks, companion to How to Catch a Bogle; a debut novel by picture-book author Theresa E. Harris, The Perfect Place, in which 12-year-old Treasure and her sister, mother, and great aunt learn how to be a family after her father leaves; and Where I Belong, a contemporary middle-grade novel by ghost-story author Mary Downing Hahn.
Lerner
On offer are copies of Carrie Mesrobian’s Perfectly Good White Boy, in which Sean contemplates his dubious-looking future after his college-bound girlfriend dumps him; the picture book Bug on a Bike by Monkey with a Tool Belt series creator Chris Monroe; Lark Ascending, the final book of Meagan Spooner’s Skylark trilogy; Beetle Boy by Margaret Willey, in which a teen author is trapped in perpetual childhood because of his successful creation; Fat & Bones: And Other Stories by Larissa Theule, illus. by Adam S. Doyle, a supernatural debut set on the fictional Bald’s farm, after the farmer dies and conflict reigns; Ruby Valentine and the Sweet Surprise, continuing the Love, Ruby Valentine series by Laurie Friedman, illus. by Lynne Avril; the latest Dino-Sports book, Dino-Boarding by Lisa Wheeler, illus. by Barry Gott; Sometimes You Barf by Nancy Carlson, a reassuring picture book; Jack and the Wild Life, book two in the Berenson Schemes middle-grade adventure series by Lisa Doan, illus. by Ivica Stevanovic; and Truth and Kisses, Laurie Friedman’s third entry in The Mostly Miserable Life of April Sinclair series.
Little, Brown
Pseudonymous Bosch returns with Bad Magic, launching a new series about Clay, who is sent to a camp for “troubled” kids on a remote volcanic island; Ryan Graudin’s The Walled City, set in a lawless labyrinth run by crime lords and overrun by street gangs; Salt & Storm by debut author Kendall Kulper, a historical romance about a teen witch who foresees her own murder; The Young World, film director Chris Weitz’s debut novel, which launches a series in which a mysterious Sickness wipes out the entire population, except for teenagers; The Map to Everywhere by Carrie Ryan and John Parke Davis, first in a fantastical middle-grade pirate series; The House of Robots, a middle-grade series launch by James Patterson with Chris Grabenstein, illus. by Juliana Neufeld; We Should Hang Out Sometime: Embarrassingly, a True Story, Paralympic skier Josh Sundquist’s memoir of coming of age as an amputee cancer survivor; The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black, in which a girl makes a secret sacrifice to the faerie king; The Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi, a contemporary thriller that explores how public information is distorted for monetary gain; The Rookie Bookie, the first middle-grade novel by Scorecasting authors L. Jon Wertheim and Tobias Moskowitz, about a kid who’s obsessed with sports stats; Snoop Troop: It Came from Beneath the Playground by Kirk Scroggs, a series launch about a fifth-grade detective; Rebecca Serle’s Famous in Love, in which 17-year-old Paige is plucked from obscurity to star in the movie adaptation of a blockbuster book series; and Jessica Darling’s It List 2: The (Totally Not) Guaranteed Guide to Friends, Foes & Faux Friends by Megan McCafferty.
Macmillan
Galleys will be distributed for The Vault of Dreamers by Birthmarked trilogy author Caragh O’Brien, a psychological thriller set at a prestigious art school, and Trial by Fire by Josephine Angelini, launching the Worldwalker trilogy in which worlds collide, magic reigns, and love burns.
Peachtree
Booth giveaways include Pig and Small, a picture book by Alex Latimer about a budding friendship between a pig and a bug; Claude on the Slopes, continuing Alex T. Smith’s chapter-book series about an intrepid canine; Charlie Bumpers vs. the Squeaking Skull by Bill Harley, illus. by Adam Gustavson, the third outing for Charlie Bumpers; the middle-grade football story Double Reverse by Fred Bowen; Can I Come Too? by Brian Patten, illus. by Nicola Bayley, in which a very small mouse sets out to find the biggest creature in the world; Stanley’s Garage and Stanley the Builder by William Bee, the U.S. launch titles of a picture book series starring a busy hamster; and book two in The Dog Chronicles by Alison Hart, illus. by Michael G. Montgomery, called Murphy, Gold Rush Dog.
Penguin
Meg Wolitzer’s first YA novel, Belzhar, is set at a mysterious boarding school and takes its title from a play on Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar. Also on offer from Penguin are copies of The Young Elites, launching the first high-fantasy trilogy from Legend series author Marie Lu; I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson, a standalone YA novel that explores the rift between 13-year-old Jude and her twin brother, Noah; debut author Romina Russell’s Zodiac, first in an SF-meets-high-fantasy series inspired by astrological signs; Dove Arising, which opens first-time author Karen Bao’s series about a girl growing up in a militarized lunar colony; The 8th Continent, a middle-grade series launch by debut author Matt London that incorporates the real-life Great Pacific Garbage Patch into its madcap plot; series starter Life of Zarf by Rob Harrell, about a troll stuck at the bottom of the middle-school hierarchy; Pennyroyal Academy, which begins a fantasy series by debut author M.A. Larson, a writer for the animated TV series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic; and Brown Girl Dreaming, Jacqueline Woodson’s memoir-in-verse of her childhood in the 1960s and ’70s.
Random House
R. J. Palacio’s 365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne’s Book of Precepts offers daily inspirational quotes from the likes of Anne Frank, Confucius, and Nelson Mandela, and will be given away in a Wonder tote bag. Also up for grabs are copies of Carl Hiaasen’s Skink: No Surrender, which introduces young readers to Hiaasen fixture Skink, an eccentric former Florida governor; King Dork Approximately by Frank Portman, sequel to 2006’s King Dork; Firstborn by debut novelist Lou Anders, a middle-grade tale of trolls, giants, and dragons; On a Clear Day by Walter Dean Myers, a futuristic story in which a group of teens decide that they are neither too young nor too powerless to change their world; Gabriel Finley & the Raven’s Riddle by George Hagen, a debut middle-grade fantasy about a boy whose magical bond with a raven leads him to his missing father; and Nest by Esther Ehrlich, a middle-grade debut set in 1972 Cape Cod.
Running Press
Two teen titles will be given away: Press Play by Eric Devine, in which a high school student inadvertently films a lacrosse-team hazing ritual witnessed by the school principal; and Blackfin Sky, Kat Ellis’s debut about a teen who shows up to school one day and finds that everyone thinks she drowned three months earlier.
Scholastic
Holly Black and Cassandra Clare team up for The Iron Trial: Book 1 of the Magisterium, first in a new series set at an academy for students with a propensity toward magic. Other galleys for grabs include Sinner, which follows Cole St. Clair from Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver trilogy; Sisters, the companion to Smile, Raina Telgemeier’s graphic memoir; Love Is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson, a political thriller set at an elite Washington, D.C. prep school from the author of The Summer Prince; Star Wars: Jedi Academy: Return of the Padawan, Jeffrey Brown’s sequel to Star Wars: Jedi Academy; The Madman of Piney Woods, in which Christopher Paul Curtis returns to the world of Elijah of Buxton; Kinda Like Brothers, YA novelist Coe Booth’s middle-grade debut, which finds Jarrett very unhappy with his mother’s fostering a boy his own age; The Zero Degree Zombie Zone by Patrik Henry Bass, illus. by Jerry Craft, a fantastical middle-grade adventure starring an African-American fourth grader; the latest installment in Dav Pilkey’s potty-minded series, Captain Underpants and the Tyrannical Retaliation of the Turbo-Toilet 2000; Bombay Blues, the sequel to Tanuja Desai Hidier’s 2002 debut, Born Confused; Amulet #6: Escape from Lucien, continuing Kazu Kibuishi’s graphic novel series; If Kids Ran the World by Leo and Diane Dillon, the couple’s final collaboration; The Yeti Files: Meet the Bigfoot, which launches Kevin Sherry’s chapter book series; Famous Last Words by Katie Alender, a thriller set in Hollywood; If You’re Reading This by Trent Reedy, in which a teen begins receiving letters his father wrote before being killed under mysterious circumstances in Afghanistan; Unstoppable Octobia May by Sharon Flake, which blends history, race, culture, and family in a 1950s setting; Can’t Look Away by Donna Cooner, about an Internet-famous teen named Torrey whose sister is killed in an accident, possibly because of Torrey and her videos; Max and the Won’t Go to Bed Show by Mark Sperring, illus. by Sarah Warburton, a bedtime picture book; The Badger Knight by Kathryn Erskine, about a sickly boy’s journey through England and Scotland during medieval times; Dash by Kirby Larson, about a Japanese-American girl who is separated from her dog upon being sent to an interment camp during WWII; and The Night Parade, a bedtime tale by debut author Lily Roscoe, illus. by David Walker
Simon & Schuster
Galleys of two YA novels will be given away. Afterworlds by Uglies series author Scott Westerfeld follows, in alternating chapters, a first-time novelist and the heroine of her paranormal novel. And Hush Hush series author Becca Fitzpatrick’s Black Ice is a mystery-adventure set in the mountains of Wyoming’s Teton Range.
Skyhorse Publishing
The Sky Pony imprint’s galley giveaway is Pack of Dorks, a middle-grade novel by debut author Beth Vrabel that tackles issues of bullying, loyalty, and disability with humor.
Sleeping Bear
Galleys of the middle-grade novel Red Berries White Clouds Blue Sky by Sandra Dallas, set in the Japanese interment camps of World War II, will be available.
Soho Press
Among the showcased books are Rainey Royal by Dylan Landis, told in 14 narratives that build into the harrowing, ultimately affirming story of a young artist; I’m Glad I Did by Cynthia Weil, a debut murder mystery and coming-of-age story set at the Brill Building in the summer of 1963; The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone, Adele Griffin’s fictional take on a celebrity bio; and Hero Complex by Margo Frauxley, second in the Keaton School thriller series.
Sourcebooks
Up for grabs are ARCs of The Girl in the Well by Rin Chupeco, pitched as “The Ring meets The Exorcist”; The Girl Who Never Was, kicking off Skylar Dorset’s duology starring a half-faerie princess who figures in a dire prophecy; H20, a contemporary-dystopia debut by Virginia Bergin in which water has turned into poison and anyone who touches it is dead; Always, Abigail by Nancy J. Cavanaugh, a story of friendship between opposites told through letters and lists; Young Houdini: The Magician’s Fire by Simon Nicholson, a debut and the launch of a fictionalized series about the escape artist as a boy; and How to Bake a Book by Ella Burfoot, a picture book that provides the recipe for crafting a story.
St. Martin’s Griffin
Copies of Kat Spears’s debut novel Sway, in which a boy who avoids all emotional connection meets the girl of his dreams, will be given away.
Tor
The Tor Teen galley on offer is The Accidental Highwayman, a YA debut by adult zombie novelist Ben Tripp, pitched as “a swashbuckling tale of adventure, magic, and true love” featuring 25 illustrations by the author.
Workman
Finished copies of the latest board-book-and-downloadable-song combo from Sandra Boynton, The Bunny Rabbit Show!, will be available.
Zest Books
The giveaway here is Daisy to the Rescue: True Stories of Daring Dogs, Paramedic Parrots, and Other Animal Heroes by Jeff Campbell, illus. by Ramsey Beyer, which showcases the real-life exploits of dogs, cats, horses, pigs, dolphins, and more, for readers ages 12 and up.
