Publisher Preview: Ellen Myrick’s Publisher Spotlight (Fall 2022) [Part One]

The spotlight returns to Ellen Myrick of (you guessed it) Publisher Spotlight/Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC. Ellen represents around 34 publishers and, on occasion, she’ll give me the chance to take a gander at some of the choicest plums. These previews are done in a remarkably quick manner, so I try to grasp whatever catches my attention in a given moment. Please understand that this is not ALL the books coming out from these publishers this year. Consider post to instead be a representative sampling more than anything else. And considering how many there are to go through, we’re going to break this post into parts over the course of the next month.

Part One – Featuring the publishers Albatros & Barefoot Books:

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Grandad’s Pink Trousers by Lucie Hasova Truhelkova, ill. Andrea Tachezy

And what better way to kick off than with a nice Czech Republic import? More to the point, who can resist a grumpy pink pants wearing man? When his wife decides to toss them out, this old man is determined to give them a second life. After all, tossing out a perfectly good pair of pants is irresponsible. But there’s good reasoning behind his thinking:

This is the kind of book where the child asks why the grandad is nice to him but grumpy with others. Different grandparents show love in different ways. This book drills that home.

Upside Down by Katarina Macurova

I’ve never seen this plot before! When a little farmer sees a strange plant that won’t flower, he’ll stop at nothing to figure out its secret. Meanwhile, an entirely different storyline is happening under the ground. If you like dual narratives then this book is for you!

Healthy As a Dragon by Stephanka Sekaninova and Veronika Zacharova

There are your health books, and then there are your health books. And what could be more enticing than a book that really goes through the steps to keep yourself well? Let me show you the image that makes me the most excited, though. Behold! This shows you a step by step chart on how to wash your hands! I can’t be the only one excited to see this:

And speaking of hands . . .

The Hand Book: A Complete Guide by Magda Gargulakova, ill. Vitezslav Mecner

Voted one of the 100 Best Books of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, this nonfiction title has it all. A cool table of contents . . .

Sections on sign languages. Even an explanation of how hand gestures can have incredibly different meanings from place to place!

And now…. the best YA horror book jacket of 2022:

I Shall Awaken by Katerina Sardicka

Oh, Czech Republic. How I love you so.

Count on Us! Climate Activists from One to a Billion by Gabi Snyder, ill. Sarah Walsh

A counting book AND a climate activist book? Now that’s a trend that speaks to me. The math part in particular is interesting, and you’ll find it used when demonstrating changing intervals and scale. As I looked at it, I realized that it might pair very well with this year’s One Million Trees by Kristen Balouch. And the backmatter contains short bios of famous environmentalists like Winona LaDuke. Good stuff.

Harvest Days by Kate DiPalma, ill. by Martina Peluso

I know that there are lots of schools where they have no problem teaching the old Thanksgiving Day myth, but for those who prefer to avoid candy-coated colonization, this book offers a pretty nice alternative. Its secret? It’s not specific to a single holiday. Rather, it goes around the world looking at harvest festivals from a variety of different places. Seems to me a smart way to tackle this problem. Also, the book has pronunciation guides and a Calendar of Harvest Festivals. Bonus!

Making Happy by Sheetal Sheth, ill. Khoa Le

Any time you can see a new book illustrated by Khoa Le, that is a good day. This particular book explores a family adapting to a mom’s cancer and all that that entails. The story then talks about what a family can do to “make” some happy in the midst of something as rough as this. I love this simple image near the end of the daughter drawing on her mom’s head. It’s strange and tender all at once. Lovely.

Look for more soon!

Filed under: Publisher Previews