Island of Whispers
Frances Hardinge, illus. by Emily Gravett. Amulet, $19.99 (120p) ISBN 978-1-4197-7433-1
Fourteen-year-old Milo sails a ship of souls to the realm of the dead in this elegiac fantasy from Hardinge (Unraveller). On Merlank, the dead linger until Milo’s father, the Ferryman, can deliver them to the Island of the Broken Tower, from which they can ascend to the afterlife. The dead are drawn to the shoes they wore in life, so after the death of the Lord of Merlank’s daughter, his wife gives the Ferryman the girl’s favorite pair to help lead her aboard his boat. But the grieving Lord has other plans; he tries to reclaim the shoes so his magicians can attempt to resurrect his daughter. He kills the Ferryman and captures Milo’s brother, but Milo escapes with both the girl’s shoes and his dad’s boots, determined to make the journey to the Broken Tower himself so that the girl and his father can pass on peacefully. Though the Lord gives chase, he is the least of Milo’s concerns along the mystical trials separating him from his destination. Using spare, evocative prose, Hardinge weaves a nuanced and affecting tale about grief, compassion, and the importance of living life fully. Gravett (A Song of Gladness) enhances the otherworldly tone with black, white, and light blue illustrations that are by turns bold and ethereal. All characters are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 10–14. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency. (Aug.)
The Extraordinary Disappointments of Leopold Berry (Sunderworld #1)
Ransom Riggs. Dutton, $21.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-593-53093-1
Riggs departs the Miss Peregrine universe to launch a fresh fantasy adventure grounded in contemporary Los Angeles. After his mother’s death five years ago, Leopold Berry’s grief-fueled obsession with the kitschy fantasy TV show Sunderworld began inducing “escapist dissociative episodes.” Now 17 and “perfectly average,” Leopold and his best friend Emmett learn that these seeming hallucinations are glimpses into an actual, magical Sunderworld that desperately seeks a powerful channeler to vanquish monsters and reverse magic shortages. Upon the duo’s arrival to Sunderworld, Leopold must participate in a televised spellcasting test if he wants to become a channeler. But when he fails, he and Emmett are banished, and their memories magically wiped with spells that backfire. While Leopold’s memories remain intact, Emmett develops troubling neurological symptoms, prompting Leopold to defy exile and search Sunderworld for a cure. What he finds instead is a deeper mystery involving an enigmatic girl, an enchanted map, and a charmed object that only he can activate. Riggs’s incandescent storytelling, exquisite worldbuilding, and vivid characterization kick off a propulsive series starter that subverts the chosen-one trope via a self-made antihero who learns to choose himself. If Leopold finds more questions than answers, readers will be heartened by the promise of more adventure and intrigue following this whirlwind opener. Leopold is white; secondary characters are racially diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Michael Bourret, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Aug.)
Amir and the Jinn Princess
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M.T. Khan. Little, Brown/Patterson, $16.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-7595-5797-0
The 12-year-old heir to a brick-making company in Lahore, Pakistan, partners with a powerful jinn princess to find his absent mother in this beguiling fantasy adventure by Khan (Nura and the Immortal Palace). Privileged Amir Rafiq yearns for his mother. Whether she went missing or abandoned the family is unclear, but when Amir’s grandmother decides that his father must remarry before the end of summer to remove the “stain” her disappearance placed on their family name, Amir determines to find her. Fortunately, he soon learns that the cat he adopted in secret is a jinn princess named Shamsa in disguise. Shamsa offers to help Amir search for his mother; in exchange, Amir must assist Shamsa in her quest to become next in line as king of the jinn. During their journey, which teems with playfully tinged practicalities (Shamsa and Amir travel to the jinn world via train), Amir learns that he’s not the only one facing hardships. Khan conveys these lessons with sensitivity, taking care not to invalidate Amir’s concerns, culminating in an empathetic portrait of two lonely tweens who help to broaden each other’s worldviews, along the way finding genuine companionship and previously untapped strength. Ages 8–12. (July)
Stay Angry, Little Girl
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Illus. by Michelle Jing Chan. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18.99 (24p) ISBN 978-0-374-39083-9
Personal characteristics that are sometimes seen as vulnerabilities prove valuable in moments of adversity, hints this work inspired by a memorable line from Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time: “ ‘Stay angry, little Meg,’ Mrs. Whatsit whispered. ‘You will need all your anger now.’ ” In straightforward digital spreads by Chan (Mamie Tape Fights to Go to School), a group of pupils portrayed with various abilities and skin tones listens to their teacher read from L’Engle’s book. Next, the children encounter events that require their resistance. In the first, two students discover a chain-link fence around a park, with a sign that reads “Mall coming soon.” The next spread shows the duo in the library doing research about community gardens and fighting deforestation (“Anger helps you know what needs to change,” an attendant line reads). On another spread, a television newscast reads “Anti-LGBTQ+ Bills,” viewed by a family whose child is shown the following day heading a march with classmates (“Stay stubborn, little girl”). Sensitivity, curiosity, loudness, kindness, and playfulness are also embraced in this leanly hortatory accounting of values. Ages 3–5. Illustrator’s agent: Jemiscoe Chambers-Black, Andrea Brown Literary. (Aug.)
Call Me Roberto! Roberto Clemente Goes to Bat for Latinos
Nathalie Alonso, illus. by Rudy Gutierrez. Calkins Creek, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-6359-2811-2
In this stirring biography of Puerto Rican baseball player Roberto Clemente (1934–1972), Alonso celebrates the athlete’s contributions to baseball and human rights. The smartly paced narrative kicks off with Clemente’s childhood in Puerto Rico (“Roberto lives to swing/ and slide./ To catch./ To throw./ To run”), then follows his arc to the major league, joining the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1955. Many fans appreciate the player’s “bold style, but not everyone is quick to embrace a Black man from Puerto Rico.” Acrylic, colored pencil, and crayon illustrations by Gutierrez impart vibrancy to lively art that emphasizes the figure’s athletic ability and connection with the public—one spread shows Clemente feted inside a colorful heart that represents Puerto Rico but sitting alone in the blues and grays of a Pittsburgh that won’t acknowledge him. Refusing to accept this treatment, Clemente insists, “I represent the common people of America. So I am going to be treated like a human being.” An author’s note, timeline, and more conclude. Ages 7–10. (Aug.)
Go, Wilma, Go! Wilma Rudolph, from Athlete to Activist
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Amira Rose Davis and Michael G. Long, illus. by Charnelle Pinkney Barlow. Bloomsbury, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-547-61209-3
Davis, Long, and Pinkney Barlow spotlight athlete Wilma Rudolph (1940–1994), who defied odds to become an Olympic track-and-field champion before embracing activism. After winning three gold medals at the 1960 Olympics, Rudolph tours Greece, England, and Germany, where her experiences contrast with her Clarksville, Tenn., hometown: “In America, they push me around because I’m a Negro. Here in Europe, they push me to the front.” Back in Clarksville, she refuses to attend a segregated celebration in her honor, “unless the leaders include Black people in everything, in the parade and the banquet.” Mixed-media art that includes hand-painted cut-paper collage and digital renderings gives a dioramic feel to scenes of Rudolph running, traveling, and resisting in this work about a figure who remained resolute “because the race to freedom is not a sprint, but a marathon.” An authors’ note concludes. Ages 5–8. (July)
Sumo Libre
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Joe Cepeda. Little, Brown, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-3164-5372-1
Neighbors passionate about differing wrestling traditions come together in Cepeda’s exuberant work. Max, a lucha libre fan whose room is decorated with the sport’s masks, “knows every famous luchador and all the best moves.” Neighbor Kenji, whose walls are covered with sumo posters, knows the sport’s “greatest yokozuna and practices his moves daily.” When the two begin to spar, though, the event quickly escalates into a brawl over which variation is best. Separated by their parents and forced to practice alone, the two concoct a way to share their passions, putting on a “Sumo-Libre” event for the neighborhood and finding a way to wrestle—but not fight—all summer long. Bold oils and acrylics on board convey kinetic scenes. The protagonists and their families are portrayed with brown skin; background characters are shown with various abilities and skin tones. Ages 4–8. (June)
Wings of an Eagle: The Gold Medal Dreams of Billy Mills
Billy Mills and Donna Janell Bowman, illus. by S.D. Nelson. Little, Brown, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-31-637348-7
Mills and author Bowman collaborate to write this autobiographical picture book about Oglala Lakota (Sioux) Olympian Billy Mills (b. 1938). Kicking off at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the work spools back in time to Mills’s Pine Ridge Reservation childhood. After his mother’s death, his father advises: “The pursuit of a dream will heal you. Do this and you could have wings of an eagle.” After facing prejudice across the years and finishing college, marrying, and joining the U.S. Marines, fly he does, qualifying for the 1964 Olympics and winning gold. Recollecting text captures the feel of the times, the excitement of racing, and the courage behind reaching a long-cherished dream. Sioux artist Nelson’s signature-style art offers extra polish to a title that’s just right for anyone pursuing a lofty goal. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (July)
Up, Up, Ever Up! Junko Tabei: A Life in the Mountains
Anita Yasuda, illus. by Yuko Shimizu. Clarion, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-06-324241-8
Yasuda opens this biography of Junko Tabei (1939–2016), the first woman to summit Everest, with a description of a childhood trip to a mountain, where she first awakens to the excitement of climbing “up, up, and ever up!” Evocative, simile-rich prose (mountains are “whitecaps on a deep-deep sea”) follows Tabei to university in Tokyo, where most mountaineering clubs won’t accept women. Later, Tabei plans a women’s group trip to Everest, sewing some of her own clothing when mountaineering gear proves sized for men. Dazzling, visually complex spreads by Shimizu give the artwork the feel of woodblock prints; the daring of Tabei’s expedition is conveyed in part by an image of the climber striding through midair as she waves goodbye to her family before the trip. Both suspenseful tale and portrait of mountain stewardship, it’s a memorable story about living life on the edge of possibility. An author’s note, timeline, and glossary conclude. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)
Ping-Pong Shabbat: The True Story of Champion Estee Ackerman
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Ann Diament Koffsky, illus. by Abigail Rajunov. Little Bee, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-4998-1609-9
For Estee Ackerman (b. 2002), “Shabbat was a day of calm,” Koffsky writes, “a break from the exciting pop, pop, ker-pops” of the ping-pong tournaments she played during the week. Rajunov contrasts the intensity of competition—images of fierce concentration, bold motion lines, and onomatopoeia—with starry scenes of the athlete’s family serenely gathered around the Shabbat table. At 11, Ackerman was on the brink of winning the U.S. National Table Tennis Championships when the finals were set for a Saturday and the officials refused to budge. Her decision to forfeit wasn’t easy, but it captured the nation: “People everywhere read the articles. Most of them didn’t play Ping-Pong. A lot of them weren’t Jewish. But many of them were excited to hear about a young girl who had chosen her values over the gold medal.” The book concludes with Ackerman winning gold the following year—on a Monday—and an afterword. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)
