The Weekly 411 (6/9/23)

 

© Jen Boehler

June 9, 2023 vol. 23

The Weekly 411 gathers all the links added to Kidlit411 each week. To receive this post by email, sign up for our email updates. Are you on Facebook? Join our Kidlit411 group for conversations and camaraderie. This week's illustration is by Jen Boehler.

Kid Lit News

Trends in the Children's Book Market

YA Anthology Giveaway

We're excited to host a giveaway of the YA anthology, The Grimoire of Grave Fates, edited by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owens (Delacorte Press), out now. Enter to win a copy via the Rafflecopter below!

About the Book:  Twenty hours. Eighteen students. One murder.

A prestigious school for young magicians, the Galileo Academy has recently undergone a comprehensive overhaul, reinventing itself as a roaming academy in which students of all cultures and identities are celebrated. In this new Galileo, every pupil is welcome, but Professor Septimius Dropwort—everyone's least favorite professor—is among those who aren't who aren't so happy with the academy's transformation. When the stodgy old professor is found dead on school grounds with a mysterious note clenched in his fist, the students must solve the murder themselves . . . because everyone’s a suspect. 

Told from eighteen alternating and distinct perspectives—each written by a different author—The Grimoire of Gave Fates follows Galileo’s best and brightest young magicians as they race to discover the truth behind Dropwort’s mysterious death. Each one of them is confident that only they have the skills needed to unravel the web of secrets hidden within Galileo’s halls. But they’re about to discover that even for straight-A students, magic doesn’t always play by the rules. . . . 

This compelling anthology is a celebration of fantasy's rich potential for inclusive storytelling. For fans of the genre who have never seen themselves represented in magical realms before or no longer feel like they have a home at Hogwarts, offers a unique and triumphant collaboration between BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and multicultural voices to create a magic school setting populated by an eclectic and authentic student body featuring backgrounds that have been "othered" in American fiction. 

Featured contributors include: Cam Montgomery, Darcie Little Badger, Hafsah Faizal, Jessica Lewis, Julian Winters, Karuna Riazi, Kat Cho, Kayla Whaley, Kwame Mbalia, L. L. McKinney, Marieke Nijkamp, Mason Deaver, Natasha Díaz, Preeti Chhibber, Randy Ribay, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Victoria Lee, and Yamile Saied Méndez  

About the Editors: HANNAH ALKAF graduated with a degree in journalism from Northwestern University and spent over ten years writing everything from B2B marketing emails to investigative feature articles, from nonprofit press releases to corporate brochures. She writes unapologetically Malaysian young adult and middle-grade novels, including The Weight of Our Sky, The Girl and the Ghost, and Queen of the Tiles. 

MARGARET OWEN was born and raised at the end of the Oregon Trail, and now lives and writes in Seattle while negotiating a long-term hostage situation with her two monstrous cats. In her free time, she enjoys exploring ill-advised travel destinations and raising money for social justice nonprofits through her illustrations. She is the author of The Merciful Crow and its sequel, The Faithless Hawk, as well as Little Thieves. 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Picture Book Giveaway 

We are pleased to host a giveaway of the picture book, Anzu and the Art of Friendship, by Moni Richie Hadley, illustrated by Nathalia Takeyama (Albert Whitman) out on June 23. Enter to win a copy via the Rafflecopter below!

About the Book: Starting a new school, Anzu struggles to find her place. Starting a new art unit, her class struggles to learn origami. It's not easy to make friends or to fold tiny paper figures, but with her grandfather’s encouragement, Anzu finds a way to try again even when she doesn’t succeed the first time―and helps her classmates do the same.

 

About the Author: Moni Ritchie Hadley is the author of The Star Festival, a 2022 Bank Street College Best Children’s Book of the Year. Growing up as a half-Japanese military brat, she found frequent moves and new schools challenging. Today, she surrounds herself with her family, pets, and friends in Los Angeles, California.

About the Illustrator:  Nathalia Takeyama is a half-Japanese and half-Brazilian artist who grew up surrounded by two beautiful cultures that inspire her every day. She majored in animation design in college and won an illustration scholarship from Quanta Academia de Artes. She works mainly in digital media and loves textures, colorful palettes, and diverse characters. She lives in São Paulo, Brazil.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 Illustrator Spotlight

We are pleased to feature illustrator Debbie Meyer and her banner design for Kidlit411.

© Debbie Meyer

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