Ellen Myrick Publisher Preview: Fall 2023/Winter 2024 (Part Eight – Kube, Lantana, Little Island, and Marble Press)

And just like that . . . it was over. We’ve come to the end of our previews for the Fall/Winter season, and what a long crazy trip it has been. If you missed them, you can see the previous round-ups in seven parts (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six, and Part Seven).

Without further ado, let’s look a couple more titles on the horizon:

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Hamza Attends a Janaza by Shabana Hussain and Atefeh Mohammadzadeh

Pub Date: Octber 3, 2023

ISBN: 9780860379010

This is one of those cases where you don’t realize what you’ve been missing until it appears before you. Had you asked me about picture books about attending funerals, I would have told you that they’re generally pretty rare, and I wouldn’t have been wrong. Honestly, aside from the brilliant The Funeral by Matt James, how many can you even name off the top of your head? The few that you can think of have one thing in common: They’re all Christian funeral ceremonies. In Hamza Attends a Janaza, however, the focus is on a boy who has learned that his Uncle has died. Soon, his family attends the Janaza and the book gives readers a kid’s perspective on what an Islamic funeral entails. There are even helpful notes for parents and caregivers included in the backmatter as well. Remarkable, particularly when you consider that we really have nothing out there on how people honor those who have passed on in their own cultures.

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Letters in Charcoal by Irene Vasco and Juan Paolmino, translated by Lawrence Schimel

Pub Date: September 5, 2023

ISBN: 9781915244512

This one I’ve actually seen firsthand, and I like its tone very much. In this tale, a woman tells her son how, when she was his age, she didn’t know how to read. Growing up as a girl in rural Colombia, no one really did, except the guy who ran the only shop in town. When her older sister receives letters from a traveling doctor she was hoping to get to know better, our heroine wants to help her out by learning to read them. The story is written from a woman who lives herself in Colombia and teaches people in remote villages to read. Much of this book comes from stories that the women she’s worked with there have told to her. Interestingly, I heard that the publisher Eerdmans is doing the same story, but from the teacher’s perspective and that it will be coming out in fall of 2023 as well. Interesting!

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Listening to the Quiet by Cassie Silva and Frances Ives

Pub Date: September 5, 2023

ISBN: 9781915244482

Seems to me today’s the day to find picture books on topics that have never broached the American market before. We’ve seen books of this sort on the middle grade side, but this is the first picture book on the topic I’ve encountered. Jackie’s a young girl with a mom who is in the process of losing her hearing. As a result, the two prepare so that Jackie can continue to communicate with her mother. Of course, in the process, Jackie starts to feel guilty for how much joy she takes in sound. If this sounds like it’s coming from a pretty real place, that’s because this was the situation the author found herself in when she was a child.

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The Girl Who Fell to Earth by Patricia Forde

Pub Date: September 12, 2023

ISBN: 9781915071439

It’s always hard to find good science fiction in a given year, but 2023 has felt particularly sparse to me. I guess that as our planet starts going through some fairly science fiction-y scenarios of its own (A.I., climate change weather, etc.) it starts to look less enticing in books. Even so, I love the darn genre. That may be part of the reason why I was so thrilled to see this enticing title on the roster. In this world, Aria and her father live on a planet that has completely done away with death and illness. They have a shadow planet called Earth that’s pretty much been written off as a failed experiment. But now Aria has just found out that she’s part human. Now she and her father have been sent there to start the chain of events that will lead to its destruction, and Aria has to figure out the right thing to do.

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The Lonely Book by Meg Grehan

Pub Date: October 3, 2023

ISBN: 9781915071446

You know, with a cover like this, I suspect you could slip this onto the shelf of the adult section and no one would be any the wiser. In my library, any book about booksellers, libraries, bookshops, etc. does extremely well. But this book is not intended for any kind of an adult audience. It’s a middle grade novel starring the titular character, a book. You see, the mom in this story is a bookseller. Every day she gathers some books and puts them on the counter so that the right people will find them. But the book that’s left unchosen is deeply unhappy. Meanwhile, the bookseller’s child has come out as non-binary, and they’re asking for the family to use they/them pronouns. And yes indeed. This is precisely the person that this book has been waiting for.

Show of hands. How many of you noticed that there are 5 legs on the horse in the Marble Press logo? Don’t worry about it. I had to have it pointed out to me as well.

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My Big Embarrassing Elephant by Angie Lucas and Pierre Collet-Derby

Pub Date: September 19, 2023

ISBN: 9781958325025

Isn’t that a lovely cover? Like if Bob Shea had a baby with James Flora or something.

Maya has an elephant and it’s just so embarrassing. No matter what she does, she just can’t seem to hide it. Fortunately, a new kid on the block helps her see that it’s okay to have an elephant and that she has an elephant as well. And that art! Oh boy.

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Ellie in First Position by Brian Freshchi and Elena Triolo, translated by Nanette McGuiness

Pub Date: October 3, 2023

ISBN: 9781958325001

And finally… it’s our final book of the previews (this season anyway). And we’re ending with a graphic novel, no less. I’m sort of adoring the art style and primary colors in this. The simple premise is that this book is about Ellie, who’s the new kid in town and trying to meet new friends. Though she’s clumsy as anything, and has already tried out all the sports, what she really wants is to learn how to dance:

And that, as they say, is that!

Special thanks to Ellen Myrick for showing me all these titles. I hope you saw something in here that struck your fancy!

Filed under: Publisher Previews