Publisher Preview: Ellen Myrick (Part Two!)

If you missed the first part of this multi-pronged publisher preview, you can catch Part One here. As I wrote before:

“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.”

So far we’ve covered Albatros & Barefoot Books. Onward to the next batch of books coming out this fall then!

Tiger & Cat by Allira Tee

How much charm you can pour into a single cover? You can’t bottle up and sell appeal like this, folks. As you might imagine, in this book Tiger and Cat are best friends. But then Tiger tells his friend that he will need to go to tiger camp for an undetermined amount of time. Why? To learn how to be wild, of course. While he is gone, Cat befriends a girl in a tiger suit. Not as a replacement, but just as a new friend. Whether Tiger comes back and what he and Cat learn from their experiences is the crux of this little story.

Say Hello? by Sung Mi Kim

This happens to me a fair amount here in Illinois. In the midwest, you never know what the local rules are about smiling at the person passing you on the street let ALONE whether or not you should say hello or not! Such interactions are downright fraught at times. There’s this split second where you need to decide how to react in a given situation. This book? It’s about that moment. It’s about when we walk and see someone and decide not to say hello. We might be distracted. We might feel embarrassed. This book thinks deeply about the missed opportunity. Or, as Ellen put it so beautifully, it’s a book for the pandemic.

Tish by Edwina Wyatt

A quick question for you here and I want you to be honest. Look at this cover. Look long and hard. Now is that, or is that not, a snuffleupagus? In point of fact, this is an Australian import and an illustrated chapter book to boot. It also turns out that my snuffleupagus instincts weren’t that far off since Tish is an imaginary friend. When the kid who believed in him no longer does so, Tish sets out to find someone to befriend.

After nearly ten years in Nigeria, Cassava Republic Press, one of Africa’s leading publishers has, launched in the UK. Now their books are coming to the U.S. as well and I couldn’t be happier!

Grandma and the Moon’s Hidden Secret by Jumoke Verissimo, ill. Chinyere Okoroafor

Here’s one of those rare instances where you can see the old cover and the new one. I usually pick up my cover images from Baker & Taylor. In this particular case they had the new title with the old cover. Check these out!

Since this is Cassava Republic, this particular book hails from Nigeria and a brand new debut illustrator. The plot focuses on the relationship between a grandma and her grandchild and what happens when grandma is gone. Here’s a taste from the interior:

Obioma Plays Football by Chika Unigwe, ill. Chinyere Okoroafor

So Chika Unigwe is a great Nigerian author for adults and here he’s debuting with his first picture book. I’d like to point out, by the way, that this book is unique for a number of reasons. For example, we have picture books with kids in wheelchairs here in the States but rarely do we see them goofing off or getting in trouble. This book goes there, and then gets to the plot, which involves Obioma trying to figure out how she could find a way to play soccer. Before that, she’s the new kid and has difficulty making friends. I appreciate a book that doesn’t make a person’s disability the entire plot and gives them some character and depth. This one looks good.

That’s all for today! Stay tuned for even more books and publishers showing off their fall wares soon.

Filed under: Publisher Previews