I wasn’t able to attend the full Texas Library Association conference this year, but I did get a chance to check out the exhibit hall for a few hours. It’s always interesting and professionally useful to see what the publishers (big five as well as smaller and independent) are pushing for the upcoming seasons as well as what’s popular among the other attendees. It’s a great way to pick up on trends and notice what I may have missed reading reviews while holed up in my office. Here are a few titles for all ages that I’m especially interested in reading for myself or adding to the library’s collection.
Middle Grade
The Good Hawk by Joseph Elliot (January 2020)
Publisher synopsis: Debut novelist Joseph Elliott has created an epic fantasy in the tradition of Lloyd Alexander, Ursula K. Le Guin, and Grace Lin.
Set in mythical Scotland, this first book in the Shadow Skye trilogy features an unforgettable protagonist: Agatha, a girl some in her clan call retarch, but whose courage and spirited determination show that she should not be underestimated. These strengths also make her a good partner to Jaime, a thoughtful but anxious boy, when the two must join forces in an attempt to save their kidnapped clan.
This sweeping story carries the two young people from the Isle of Skye across the dangerous and haunted Scotian mainland to Norveg, with help along the way from a clan of nomadic Highland bull riders and the many animals who are drawn to Agatha’s extraordinary gifts for communication. Thrilling and dark, yet rich with humor and compassion, this novel marks the debut of a wonderful new voice in fantasy and a welcome new kind of protagonist.
My take: I’m always susceptible to comparisons to Lloyd Alexander, whose books I read and loved as a kid, as well as Grace Lin, whose fantasy novels for children are some of my favorites I discovered as an adult. Protagonist Agatha has Down syndrome, so I’ll be interested to see how other reviewers judge the portrayal. The author has several years of experience working in special education, particularly with kids with Down syndrome.
Refugee 87 by Ele Fountain (June 4)
Publisher synopsis: Shif has a happy life, unfamiliar with the horrors of his country’s regime. He is one of the smartest boys in school, and feels safe and loved in the home he shares with his mother and little sister, right next door to his best friend. But the day that soldiers arrive at his door, Shif knows that he will never be safe again–his only choice is to run. Facing both unthinkable cruelty and boundless kindness, Shif bravely makes his way towards a future he can barely imagine.
Based on real experiences and written in spare, powerful prose, this gripping debut illustrates the realities faced by countless young refugees across the world today. Refugee 87 is a story of friendship, kindness, hardship, survival, and — above all — hope.
My take: Writing about the refugee crisis for a middle grade audience can be a challenge. I’m always on the lookout for books that tackle it in a sensitive, age-appropriate way without shying away from how and why children – so like the ones we serve every day – become refugees.
Redwood and Ponytail by K. A. Holt (October 1)
Publisher synopsis: Told in verse in two voices, with a chorus of fellow students, this is a story of two girls, opposites in many ways, who are drawn to each other; Kate appears to be a stereotypical cheerleader with a sleek ponytail and a perfectly polished persona, Tam is tall, athletic and frequently mistaken for a boy, but their deepening friendship inevitably changes and reveals them in ways they did not anticipate.
My take: Hooray for another middle grade novel about queer girls!
Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky by Kwame Mbalia (October 15)
Publisher synopsis: Seventh-grader Tristan Strong feels anything but strong ever since he failed to save his best friend when they were in a bus accident together. All he has left of Eddie is the journal his friend wrote stories in.
Tristan is dreading the month he’s going to spend on his grandparents’ farm in Alabama, where he’s being sent to heal from the tragedy. But on his first night there, a sticky creature shows up in his bedroom and steals Eddie’s journal. Tristan chases after it-–is that a doll?-–and a tug-of-war ensues between them underneath a Bottle Tree. In a last attempt to wrestle the journal out of the creature’s hands, Tristan punches the tree, accidentally ripping open a chasm into the MidPass, a volatile place with a burning sea, haunted bone ships, and iron monsters that are hunting the inhabitants of this world.
Tristan finds himself in the middle of a battle that has left black American gods John Henry and Brer Rabbit exhausted. In order to get back home, Tristan and these new allies will need to entice the god Anansi, the Weaver, to come out of hiding and seal the hole in the sky. But bartering with the trickster Anansi always comes at a price. Can Tristan save this world before he loses more of the things he loves?
My take: The publisher is marketing this one as “a middle grade American Gods set in a richly imagined world populated with African American folk heroes and West African gods.” Like all of the other Rick Riordan presents titles, this will be a hot commodity come October.
Young Adult
Little Girls by Nicholas Aflleje and Sarah DeLaine
Publisher synopsis: Sam and Lielet are two new friends living in Ethiopia who are dealing with the kind of problems that all kids have: judgemental social cliques, condescending adults, alienation, and a legendary brain-eating monster of folklore. Sure, it’s not going to be easy, but all they have to do is live through it.
My take: I’m always looking for more fiction set in places other than the United States/North America, and this one seems like a lot of fun.
Fever Year: The Killer Flu of 1918 by Don Brown (September 3)
Publisher synopsis: New Year’s Day, 1918. America has declared war on Germany and is gathering troops to fight. But there’s something coming that is deadlier than any war.
When people begin to fall ill, most Americans don’t suspect influenza. The flu is known to be dangerous to the very old, young, or frail. But the Spanish flu is exceptionally violent. Soon, thousands of people succumb. Then tens of thousands . . . hundreds of thousands and more. Graves can’t be dug quickly enough.
What made the influenza of 1918 so exceptionally deadly—and what can modern science help us understand about this tragic episode in history? With a journalist’s discerning eye for facts and an artist’s instinct for true emotion, Sibert Honor recipient Don Brown sets out to answer these questions and more in Fever Year.
My take: This is basically the child of Brown’s The Unwanted and Albert Marrin’s Very Very Very Dreadful, and I am here for it.
The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis (October 2019)
Publisher synopsis: The country of Arketta calls them Good Luck Girls – they know their luck is anything but. Sold to a “welcome house” as children and branded with cursed markings. Trapped in a life they never would have chosen.
When Clementine accidentally murders a man, the girls risk a dangerous escape and harrowing journey to find freedom, justice, and revenge in a country that wants them to have none of those things. Pursued by Arketta’s most vicious and powerful forces, both human and inhuman, their only hope lies in a bedtime story passed from one Good Luck Girl to another, a story that only the youngest or most desperate would ever believe.
My take: I love a good revenge story, and the publisher markets this one as a cross between The Handmaid’s Tale, Westworld, and Thelma and Louise, which sounds pretty great.
Red Skies Falling by Alex London (September 3)
Publisher synopsis: In this thrilling sequel to Black Wings Beating, twins Kylee and Brysen are separated by the expanse of Uztar, but are preparing for the same war – or so they think.
Kylee is ensconsed in the Sky Castle, training with Mem Uku to master the Hollow Tongue and the Ghost Eagle. But political intrigue abounds and court drama seems to seep through the castle’s stones like blood from a broken feather. Meanwhile, Brysen is still in the Six Villages, preparing for an attack by the Kartami. The Villages have become Uztar’s first line of defense, and refugees are flooding in from the plains. But their arrival lays bare the villagers darkest instincts. As Brysen navigates the growing turmoil, he must also grapple with a newfound gift, a burgeoning crush on a mysterious boy, and a shocking betrayal.
The two will meet again on the battlefield, fighting the same war from different sides―or so they think. The Ghost Eagle has its own plans.
My take: Black Wings Beating was one of my favorite books of last year; I’m excited to dive into the sequel.
Angel Mage by Garth Nix (October 1)
Publisher synopsis: More than a century has passed since Liliath crept into the empty sarcophagus of Saint Marguerite, fleeing the Fall of Ystara. But she emerges from her magical sleep still beautiful, looking no more than nineteen, and once again renews her single-minded quest to be united with her lover, Palleniel, the archangel of Ystara.
A seemingly impossible quest, but Liliath is one of the greatest practitioners of angelic magic to have ever lived, summoning angels and forcing them to do her bidding.
Liliath knew that most of the inhabitants of Ystara died from the Ash Blood plague or were transformed into beastlings, and she herself led the survivors who fled into neighboring Sarance. Now she learns that angels shun the Ystaran’s descendants. If they are touched by angelic magic, their blood will turn to ash. They are known as Refusers, and can only live the most lowly lives.
But Liliath cares nothing for the descendants of her people, save how they can serve her. It is four young Sarancians who hold her interest: Simeon, a studious doctor-in-training; Henri, a dedicated fortune hunter; Agnez, an adventurous musketeer cadet; and Dorotea, an icon-maker and scholar of angelic magic. They are the key to her quest.
The four feel a strange kinship from the moment they meet, but do not know why, or suspect their importance. All become pawns in Liliath’s grand scheme to fulfill her destiny and be united with the love of her life. No matter the cost to everyone else. . .
My take: A new Garth Nix novel is always something to celebrate, and I’m excited this one is a standalone fantasy set in a different world from his well-known Abhorsen series.
Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden (September 10)
Publisher synopsis: Bea is on the run. And then, she runs into Lou.
This chance encounter sends them on a journey through West Texas, where strange things follow them wherever they go. The landscape morphs into an unsettling world, a mysterious cat joins them, and they are haunted by a group of threatening men. To stay safe, Bea and Lou must trust each other as they are driven to confront buried truths. The two women share their stories of loss and heartbreak—and a startling revelation about sexual assault—culminating in an exquisite example of human connection.
This magical realistic adventure from the celebrated creator of Spinning and On a Sunbeam will stay with readers long after the final gorgeously illustrated page.
My take: Austin native Walden has made a name for herself with her two previous highly-acclaimed graphic novels, and I’m excited to dive into this one. Bonus points for it being set in West Texas, one of my favorite places on Earth (and one of the most beautiful to drive through).
Adult
Recursion by Blake Crouch (June 11)
Publisher synopsis: “My son has been erased.” Those are the last words the woman tells Barry Sutton, before she leaps from the Manhattan rooftop.
Deeply unnerved, Barry begins to investigate her death, only to learn that this wasn’t an isolated case. All across the country, people are waking up to lives different from the ones they fell asleep to. Are they suffering from False Memory Syndrome, a mysterious new disease that afflicts people with vivid memories of a life they never lived? Or is something far more sinister behind the fracturing of reality all around him?
Miles away, neuroscientist Helena Smith is developing a technology that allows us to preserve our most intense memories and relive them. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to reexperience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.
Barry’s search for the truth leads him on an impossible, astonishing journey as he discovers that Helena’s work has yielded a terrifying gift–the ability not just to preserve memories but to remake them . . . at the risk of destroying what it means to be human.
At once a relentless thriller and an intricate science fiction puzzle box, Recursion is a deeply felt exploration of the flashbulb moments that define us–and who we are without them.
My take: I loved Crouch’s sci fi thriller Dark Matter, another book that aptly fits the definition “science fiction puzzle box.” If Dark Matter is any indication, Recursion will be well-plotted, exciting, and thoughtful.
The Women’s War by Jenna Glass (March 5)
Publisher synopsis: When a nobleman’s first duty is to produce a male heir, women are treated like possessions and bargaining chips. But as the aftereffects of a world-altering spell ripple out physically and culturally, women at last have a bargaining chip of their own. And two women in particular find themselves at the crossroads of change.
Alys is the widowed mother of two teenage children, and the disinherited daughter of a king. Her existence has been carefully proscribed, but now she discovers a fierce talent not only for politics but also for magic—once deemed solely the domain of men. Meanwhile, in a neighboring kingdom, young Ellin finds herself unexpectedly on the throne after the sudden death of her grandfather the king and everyone else who stood ahead of her in the line of succession. Conventional wisdom holds that she will marry quickly, then quietly surrender the throne to her new husband…. Only, Ellin has other ideas.
The tensions building in the two kingdoms grow abruptly worse when a caravan of exiled women and their escort of disgraced soldiers stumbles upon a new source of magic in what was once uninhabitable desert. This new and revolutionary magic—which only women can wield—threatens to tear down what is left of the patriarchy. And the men who currently hold power will do anything to fight back.
My take: This kind of story is catnip for me, and the cover is gorgeous.
The Ventriloquists by E. R. Ramzipoor (August 27)
Publisher synopsis: Brussels, 1943. Twelve-year-old street orphan Helene survives by living as a boy and selling copies of the country’s most popular newspaper, Le Soir, now turned into Nazi propaganda. Helene’s entire world changes when she befriends a rogue journalist, Marc Aubrion, who draws her into a secret network publishing dissident underground newspapers.
Aubrion’s unbridled creativity and linguistic genius attract the attention of August Wolff, a high-ranking Nazi official tasked with swaying public opinion against the Allies. Wolff captures Aubrion and his comrades and gives them an impossible choice: use the newspaper to paint the Allies as monsters, or be killed. Faced with no decision at all, Aubrion has a brilliant idea: they will pretend to do the Nazis’ bidding, but instead they will publish a fake edition of Le Soir that pokes fun at Hitler and Stalin—giving power back to the Belgians by daring to laugh in the face of their oppressors.
The ventriloquists have agreed to die for a joke, and they have only eighteen days to tell it.
Told with dazzling scope, taut prose and devastating emotion, The Ventriloquists illuminates the extraordinary acts of courage by ordinary people forgotten by history—unlikely heroes who went to extreme lengths to orchestrate the most stunning feat of journalism in modern history.
My take: This is inspired by true events, has gotten a lot of prepublication buzz, and just sounds fascinating.