New in June

A heartfelt, comedic coming-of-age debut from a bright new talentWhen we meet Eagle Valiant Brosi, he is a long-haired commune kid, bullied by other kids, teachers, and his neighbors. And because of his speech impediment, Eagle observes silently and often. Mom—a classic earthy, free spirit prone to discursive lectures on natural medicine and the efficacy of certain plants—is the only one who really cares. So Eagle lets others talk and talk and talk, revealing their true natures and selfish (sometimes even selfless) motivations.In Black Cohosh, Eagle pieces together the puzzling and hurtful things he has been told as he takes his first, tragic steps into adulthood. While things may seem grim, Brosi’s drawings are loose and limber, stretching and falling across each page. His cast of hippie archetypes come with iconic thatches of hair, bushy beards, and scrawny, gesticulating arms. Black Cohosh is a captivating debut from a natural storyteller with the expert timing of a veteran comedian and the soothing empathy of a death doula.

A few weeks after the 2016 election, at Thanksgiving with his daughter and her belligerent new husband, Rhys Kinnick finally snapped. After an escalating fight about politics, he hauled off and punched the jerk. Immediately horrified by what he'd done, by the state of the world around him, and by his own spiraling mental health, Rhys chucked his smartphone out the car window and fled for a remote cabin in the woods of the Pacific Northwest.Seven years later, when his grandchildren show up on his doorstep, Rhys barely recognizes them. Their mother has disappeared, and they need a safer place to stay than with their father, who has taken up with a Christian Nationalist militia. So what if Rhys’s cabin has no electricity or indoor plumbing, and the raccoons help themselves to the monthly grocery haul? He'll do whatever he needs to for these sweet kids.But when the militia members show up and kidnap the children, Rhys realizes he'll have to re-enter the broken world. With the help of a bipolar retired detective and his caustic ex-girlfriend, Rhys reluctantly heads off on a madcap journey through the rubble of the life he left behind.A reclusive journalist is suddenly thrown into a wild, suspenseful journey to rescue his kidnapped grandchildren.

The first love of a teenage girl is a powerful thing, particularly when the object of that desire is her best friend, also a girl. It's the kind of power that could implode a family, a friendship, a life. On a quiet summer night in Newcastle, 1972, a choice must be made: to act upon these desires, or to suppress them.Over the following three decades, these two lives almost intersect in pivotal moments, the distance between them at times drawing so thin that they nearly collide. Against the backdrop of an era including Australia's first Mardi Gras and the AIDS pandemic, we see these two lives ebb and flow, with joy and grief and loss and desire, until at last they come together in the most beautiful and surprising of fashions.A Language of Limbs is about love and how it's policed, friendship and how it transcends, and hilarity in the face of heartbreak—the jokes you tell as you're dying and the ways laughing at a funeral softens the edges of our grief. An unashamed celebration of queer life in all its vibrancy and colour, this story finds the humanity in all of us and demands we claim our futures for ourselves.

When Adela Woods tells her parents she’s pregnant, they immediately send her a thousand miles away to stay with her grandmother in Padua Beach. The intention is that she will leave her baby in 'the forgotten Panhandle of Florida' and resume her suburban life nine months later as though nothing happened. But Adela’s plans are soon washed away by the tide.First, Adela meets Emory, a new mother determined to defy the expectations of everyone around her, returning to high school with her newborn baby strapped to her chest. Then she meets Simone, ringleader of ‘the Girls,’ a group of young mothers who create a village together in the back of her red truck—dancing, breastfeeding, raising their children and themselves.The town thinks they’ve lost their way. Really, they are finding it.But as they look for love, make and break friendships, navigate the miracle of motherhood and the paradox of girlhood, Adela, Emory and Simone also find themselves on an inescapable collision course with one another.A novel full of heart and life and hope, set against the shifting sands of secrets and betrayals, The Girls Who Grew Big offers an explosive new perspective on what it means to be a young woman, a daughter, and a mother.

It’s 2062 and Florida is partially underwater, but even that can’t bring down the residents of Palm Meridian Retirement Resort, a utopian home for women wanting to revel in their twilight years. Inside, hula hoopers shimmy across the grass, fiercely competitive book clubs nearly come to blows, and the roller-ski team races up and down the winding paths. Injuries can occur, hips and backs not being what they were, but everywhere you look, these women are living large. But for long-term resident Hannah Cardin, all that is about to change. Since receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis, she has opted for a medically assisted death, and tonight, she and her raucous band of friends plan to throw one hell of an end-of-life party. In addition to the entire resort, Hannah has invited two important people from her past: Luke, her childhood best friend and longtime business partner, who she’s fallen out of touch with since their retirement, and Sophie, the love of her life, who she hasn’t spoken to since their sudden breakup forty years ago but has thought of every day since. Luke arrives bright and early, but with an uneasiness Hannah doesn’t have time to confront, especially while she waits to see if Sophie, who never responded to her invitation, is coming at all. As the hours roll on, Hannah’s mind casts back over the highs and lows of her life and the love she shared with Sophie. But as is to be expected at any reunion of old friends—especially one as monumental and emotional as this—Hannah is not the only one with unfinished business. When a devastating secret from the past is revealed, Hannah must reconsider if she’s making the right decision after all. Spanning the course of a single day and seventy years, and featuring vibrant and loveable characters you won’t soon forget, Palm Meridian is a joyful yet audaciously bittersweet celebration of aging and friendship that reminds us life is what we choose to make of it. A rollicking, big-hearted story of long-lost love, friendship, and a life well-lived, set at a Florida retirement resort for queer women, on the last day of resident Hannah Cardin’s life—for readers of Less and The Wedding People.

Corby Ledbetter is struggling. New fatherhood, the loss of his job, and a growing secret addiction have thrown his marriage to his beloved Emily into a tailspin. And that's before he causes the tragedy that tears the family apart. Sentenced to prison, Corby struggles to survive life on the inside, where he bears witness to frightful acts of brutality but also experiences small acts of kindness and elemental kinship with a prison librarian who sees his light and some of his fellow offenders, including a tender-hearted cellmate and a troubled teen desperate for a role model. Buoyed by them and by his mother’s enduring faith in him, Corby begins to transcend the boundaries of his confinement, sustained by his hope that mercy and reconciliation might still be possible. Can his crimes ever be forgiven by those he loves?A propulsive story of a young father who, after an unbearable tragedy, reckons with the possibility of atonement for the unforgivable.EndorsementsWally Lamb — #1 New York Times bestselling author and the author of two Oprah Book Club picks, She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True.

Twin sisters Clara and Dempsey have always struggled to relate, their familial bond severed after their mother vanished into the Thames. In adulthood, they are content to be all but estranged, until Clara sees a woman who looks exactly like their mother on the streets of London. This version of Serene, aged not a day, has enjoyed a childless life.Clara, a celebrity author in desperate need of validation, believes Serene is their mother, while Dempsey, isolated and content to remain so, believes she is a con woman. As they clash over this stranger, the sisters hurtle toward an altercation that threatens their very existence, forcing them to finally confront their pasts—together.In her riveting first foray into fiction, Yrsa Daley-Ward conjures a kaleidoscopic multiverse of daughterhood and mother-want, exploring the sacrifices that Black women must make for self-actualization.The result is a marvel of a debut novel that boldly asks, “How can it ever, ever be a crime to choose yourself?”

Joan Goodwin has been obsessed with the stars for as long as she can remember. Thoughtful and reserved, Joan is content with her life as a professor of physics and astronomy at Rice University and as aunt to her precocious niece, Frances. That is, until she comes across an advertisement seeking the first women scientists to join NASA’s Space Shuttle program. Suddenly, Joan burns to be one of the few people to go to space.Selected from a pool of thousands of applicants in the summer of 1980, Joan begins training at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, alongside an exceptional group of fellow candidates: Top Gun pilot Hank Redmond and scientist John Griffin, who are kind and easy-going even when the stakes are highest; mission specialist Lydia Danes, who has worked too hard to play nice; warm-hearted Donna Fitzgerald, who is navigating her own secrets; and Vanessa Ford, the magnetic and mysterious aeronautical engineer, who can fix any engine and fly any plane.As the new astronauts become unlikely friends and prepare for their first flights, Joan finds a passion and a love she never imagined. In this new light, Joan begins to question everything she thinks she knows about her place in the observable universe.Then, in December of 1984, on mission STS-LR9, everything changes in an instant.Fast-paced, thrilling, and emotional, Atmosphere is Taylor Jenkins Reid at her best: transporting readers to iconic times and places, with complex protagonists, telling a passionate and soaring story about the transformative power of love, this time among the stars.EndorsementsFrom the #1 New York Times bestselling author — Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Austin. It’s the summer of 1998, and there’s a new face on the scene at Terry Tucker’s Boxing Gym. Sixteen-year-old Nathaniel Rothstein has never felt comfortable in his own skin, but under the tutelage of a swaggering, Haitian-born ex-fighter named David Dalice, he begins to come into his own. Even the boy’s slightly-stoned uncle, Bob Alexander, who is supposed to be watching him for the summer, notices the change. Nathaniel is happier, more confident—tanner, even. Then one night he vanishes, leaving little trace behind.Across the city, Charles Rex, now going simply by “X,” has been undergoing a teenage transformation of his own, trolling the phone sex hotline that his mother works, seeking an outlet for everything that feels wrong about his body, looking for intimacy and acceptance in a culture that denies him both. As a surprising and unlikely romance blooms, X feels, for a moment, like he might have found the safety he’s been searching for. But it's never that simple.More than a decade later, Nathaniel’s uncle Bob receives a shocking tip, propelling him to open his own investigation into his nephew’s disappearance. The resulting search involves gymgoers past and present, including a down-on-his-luck twin and his opportunistic brother; a rookie cop determined to prove herself; and Alexis Cepeda, a promising lightweight, who crossed the US-Mexico border when he was only fourteen, carrying with him a license bearing the wrong name and face.Bobbing and weaving across the ever-shifting canvas of a changing country, The Slip is an audacious, daring look at sex and race in America that builds to an unforgettable collision in the center of the ring.For readers of Jonathan Franzen and Nathan Hill comes a haymaker of an American novel about a missing teenage boy, cases of fluid and mistaken identity, and the transformative power of boxing.

At the Avallon, real power comes to those who watch and listen...High in the Appalachian mountains is a place quite unlike any other. The Avallon Hotel and its enigmatic General Manager, June Hudson, are famed for offering unrivalled luxury, season after season, to those who come from far and wide to indulge in its beautiful hot springs and take the healing waters. Everything is perfect. Perhaps too perfect.So when the Avallon is called upon to help the war effort — to oust its guests and host three hundred diplomats and Nazi sympathisers — June's priority is business as usual. But as dark alliances and unexpected attractions crack the polished veneer of the hotel, she is forced to reckon with the true price of luxury.After all, only June knows the sacrifice required to keep everyone happy — her staff, the FBI and, above all, the tumultuous sweetwater running through the heart of the hotel.The Listeners is a story of love, lies, secrets and betrayal, based on real events and steeped with eerie Appalachian magic — and brought to life by a truly unforgettable ensemble cast of characters.The extraordinary, genre-defying debut adult novel by Maggie Stiefvater.EndorsementsNo. 1 New York Times bestselling author — Maggie Stiefvater.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532.London, 1837.Boston, 2019.Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.And all of them grow teeth.

Razor-sharp and hilarious, How to Dodge a Cannonball tells the story of Anders, a white teenager who volunteers to be a Union Army flag-twirler to escape his abusive mother. In desperate acts of self-preservation, he defects—twice—before joining a Black regiment at Gettysburg, claiming to be an octoroon. In his new and entirely incredulous unit, Anders becomes entangled with questionable military men and an arms dealer working for both sides. But more importantly, he bonds with the other soldiers, finding friendship and a family he desperately needs. After deploying to New York City to suppress the draft riots and to Nevada to suppress Native Americans, Anders begins to see the war through the eyes of his newfound brothers.Dayle’s satire spares no one, whether he’s writing about Anders' naivete and unexpected love interest, the quirks of Confederate and Union soldiers, those out to make a quick buck off the tragedy of war, or the theater of war itself (spoiler: literally theater as the novel includes a one-act play the troop obsesses over while they wait for action).Uproariously funny and revelatory, How to Dodge a Cannonball is an inimitable take on which America is worth fighting for.A cutting, revealing caricature of the American Civil War, told through the eyes of a white teenager who joins an all-Black regiment of soldiers, for fans of Colson Whitehead and James McBride.

Michelle Huneven’s Bug Hollow, a family novel that follows the Samuelson clan over four decades as they hurt and heal one another.When Sally Samuelson was eight years old, her golden boy brother Ellis went missing the summer he graduated high school. Ellis finally turned up at the bucolic Bug Hollow, a last gasp of the beautiful Northern California counterculture in the 70s. He had found joy in the commune there, but died in a freak accident months later.From that point, the world of the Samuelsons never spins on the same axis, especially after Julia, Ellis’ girlfriend from Bug Hollow, shows up pregnant on their doorstep. Each Samuelson has sought their own solace: Sybil Samuelson pours herself into teaching and numbing her pain after the loss of her beloved son; her husband Phil had found respite in a love that developed while he was working as an engineer in Saudi Arabia; Katie, the high-achieving middle Samuelson, comes home to try and make peace with her mother after a cancer diagnosis. And Sally has become the de facto caretaker to Eva, the child Ellis never knew.EndorsementsThree-time finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.James Beard Award winner."Michelle Huneven is known for five enthralling novels, which chronicle the lives of middle-class Americans in her lushly conjured native California, as her characters struggle with addiction, excruciating romances, and resounding losses as they continue to seek meaning and a way to be good." — American Academy of Arts and Letters

Dawn is breaking over the Guilleries, a rugged mountain range in Catalonia frequented by wolf hunters, brigands, deserters, race-car drivers, ghosts, and demons. In a remote farmhouse called Mas Clavell, an impossibly old woman lies on her deathbed. Family and caretakers drift in and out. Meanwhile, all the women who have lived and died in that house are waiting for her to join them. They are preparing to throw her a party.As day turns to night, four hundred years’ worth of stories unspool, and the house reverberates with raucous laughter, pungent feasts, and piercing cries of pleasure and pain. It all begins with Joana, Mas Clavell’s matriarch, who once longed for a husband—“a full man,” perhaps even “an heir with a patch of land and a roof over his head.” She summoned the devil to fulfill her wish and struck a deal: a man in exchange for her soul. But when, on her wedding day, Joana discovered that her husband was missing a toe (eaten by wolves), she exploited a loophole in her agreement, heedless of what consequences might follow.

In the wake of a catastrophic two-year relationship, Melissa Febos decided to take a break—for three months she would abstain from dating, from relationships, and sex. Her friends were amused. Did she really think three months was a long time? But to Febos, it was. Ever since her teens, she had been in one relationship after another. As she puts it, she could trace a “daisy chain of romances” from her adolescence to her mid-thirties. Finally, she would carve out time to focus on herself and examine the patterns that had produced her midlife disaster. Over those first few months, she gleaned insights into her past and awoke to the joys of being single. She decided to extend her celibacy not knowing it would become the most fulfilling and sensual year of her life. No longer defined by her romantic pursuits, she learned to relish the delights of solitude, the thrill of living on her own terms, the sensual pleasures unmediated by lovers, and the freedom to pursue her ideals without distraction or guilt. Bringing her own experiences into conversation with those of women throughout history—from Hildegard von Bingen, Virginia Woolf, and Octavia Butler to the Shakers and Sappho—Febos situates her story within a newfound lineage of role models who unapologetically pursued their ambitions and ideals.By abstaining from all forms of romantic entanglement, Febos began to see her life and her self-worth in a radical new way. Her year of divestment transformed her relationships with friends and peers, her spirituality, her creative practice, and most of all her relationship to herself. Blending intimate personal narrative and incisive cultural criticism, The Dry Season tells a story that's as much about celibacy as about its pleasure, desire, and fulfillment. Infused with fearless honesty and keen intellect, it's the memoir of a woman learning to live at the center of her own story, and a much-needed catalyst for a new conversation around sex and love.An examination of the solitude, freedoms, and feminist heroes Melissa Febos discovered during a year of celibacy. A wise and transformative look at relationships and self-knowledge.

Submersed begins with an investigation into the beguiling subculture of DIY submersible men and women—but mostly men—who are so compelled to sink into the deep sea that they become amateur backyard submarine-builders. Should they succeed in fashioning a craft in their garage or driveway and set sail, they do so at great personal risk—as the 2023 fatal implosion of Stockton Rush's much more highly funded submarine, Titan, proved to the world.Matthew Gavin Frank explores the origins of the human compulsion to sink to depth, from the diving bells of Aristotle and Alexander the Great to the Confederate H. L. Hunley, which became the first submersible to sink an enemy warship before itself being sunk during the Civil War. The deeper he plunges, however, the more the obsession seems to dovetail with more threatening traits. Following the grisly murder of journalist Kim Wall at the hands of eccentric entrepreneur Peter Madsen aboard his DIY midget submarine, Frank finds himself reckoning with obsession's darkest extremes.Weaving together elements of true crime, the strange history of the submarine, the mythology of the deep sea, and the physical and mental side effects of sinking to great depth, Frank attempts to get to the bottom of this niche compulsion to chase the extreme in our planet’s bodies of water and in our own bodies. What he comes to discover, and interrogate, are the odd and unexpected overlaps between the unquenchable human desire to descend into deep water, and a penchant for unspeakable violence.An exquisite, lyrical foray into the world of deep-sea divers, the obsession and madness that oceans inspire in us, and the story of submarine inventor Peter Madsen's murder of journalist Kim Wall—a captivating blend of literary prose, science writing, and true crime.

On November 17, 2023, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, was fired on a video call. The firing quickly made headlines around the world. A week later, Altman was back running the company he had cofounded—and most of the directors who voted to fire him were themselves removed from the board. It was a demonstration of the then 38-year-old Altman’s power to bend reality to his will, and of how vicious and personal the rush to create this world-changing technology is. In The Optimist, acclaimed reporter Keach Hagey tells the Altman story, from his childhood in St. Louis to his first startup experience, his time leading Y Combinator, his recruitment of a top team at OpenAI, the machinations that led to his temporary removal, and his struggle to keep his company at the cutting-edge while fending off rivals including Elon Musk. Based on more than two hundred interviews, The Optimist is an essential portrait of an individual whose vision of the future is already shaping our lives.The first biography of the enigmatic leader of the AI revolution, charting his ascent within the tech world as well as his ambitions for this powerful new technology.

From the award-winning poet, dark comic microbursts of prose deliver a whole childhood, at the hands of a not quite middle-class Jewish family whose hardboiled American brutality and wit were the forge of a poet's coming of age."My grandparents taught me to write my sins on paper and cast them into the water on the first day of the New Year. They didn’t expect an entire book," Hirsch says in the "prologue" to this glorious festival of knife-sharp observations. In micro chapters—sometimes only a single scathing sentence long—with titles like "Call to Breakfast," "Pay Cash," "The Sorrow of Manly Sports," and "Aristotle on Lawrence Avenue," Eddie's gambling father, Ruby, son of an iron-smelter, schools him and his sister in blackjack; Eddie's mom bangs pots and pans to wake the kids (to a breakfast of cold cereal); Uncle Bob, in the collection business, can be heard threatening people on the upstairs phone; and nobody suffers fools or gives hugs. In this household, Eddie learned to jab with his left and hook with his right, never to kid a kidder, and how to sneak out at night.Steeped in rage and exuberance, Yiddishkeit and Midwestern practicality, Hirsch's laugh-and-cry performance animates a heartbreaking odyssey, from the cradle to the day he leaves home, armed with sorrow and a huge store of killing poetic wit.

In 1983, Thomas Mallon was still unknown. A literature professor at Vassar College, his days were spent travelling from Manhattan to campus, reviewing books to make ends meet, and searching the city for his own purpose and fulfillment. The AIDS epidemic was beginning to surge in New York City, the ever-bustling epicenter of literary culture and gay life, alive with parties, art, and sex.Though he didn’t know it, everything would soon change for Mallon. Riding the success of his first book, A Book of One’s Own, he became a fixture within the city’s literary scene—crossing paths with cultural giants, becoming an editor at GQ, and writing critically acclaimed books—all of which he captured through daily journals. But in some ways, it was the worst possible time for a gay coming of age in the city, as one of his lovers succumbed to AIDS and the illness of others was both a heartbreaking reality and a constant reminder of his own exposure.Tracing his own life day by day, Mallon catalogued all that those years contained: the hookups, intensifying politics, personal tragedies, as well as his own blossoming success and eventual romantic happiness. The Very Heart of It is a deft and bewitching look into the daily life of one of our most important literary figures, and a keepsake from a bygone era.From the renowned novelist, journalist, and critic, an exquisite collection of journal entries from the 80s and 90s, tracking a young, gay author’s literary coming of age during the AIDS crisis.

Celia Gilbert is the perfect friend—loyal, trustworthy, and committed to mending her best friends’ broken hearts.She’s the reason the trio is spending the summer in Lovesick Falls, the idyllic little town where Touchstone’s sort-of-uncle’s cabin was waiting to be house-sat by three unsupervised (but totally responsible) teenagers.After all, Celia, Ros, and Touchstone have been best friends since childhood. Sure, Celia is in love with Ros, and Touchstone was once in love with Celia — but that’s the beauty of a place like Lovesick Falls. If you fell in love, you could fall out.Unless you can change the other person’s mind.They started the summer closer than ever. Will living together tear them apart?Sometimes growing up means growing apart in this queer take on As You Like It featuring first loves and friend breakups, perfect for fans of The Gravity of Us and We Are Okay, from award-winning author Julia Drake.

Turtle is scavenging a drowned town when she saves a stranger’s life. There’s something special about Kai—an attraction she’s never felt before. She would do anything to see him again.But Turtle can never truly be with Kai, because Kai is Normal, and Turtle is one of the Mer, kids whose genes were illegally hacked before birth and who now have working gills as well as lungs. Turtle lives on an old cruise ship with the other Mer in order to be close to the water she needs to survive.Yet she sneaks away and lies to her friends to spend more time on land with Kai. And the pull of the shore grows even stronger when Turtle reconnects with her sisters and learns that her father, who has been in prison for having her genes modified, has escaped and may be hiding out nearby.When scientists come up with a way for the Mer to surrender their gills and live as Normals, Turtle faces a terrible choice. Turtle loves her life with her Mer friends, but she desperately misses her family. And then there’s Kai...Should she give up her Mer community and their way of life, along with the joy of living freely under the sea? Or give up the guy she’s falling for... and any hope of reconnecting with her family?An original and timely new YA novel from acclaimed author Susan Fletcher, set in a near-future where rogue gene editing has changed humanity—loosely based on The Little Mermaid A girl torn between two worlds...

Margo is a troubled schoolgirl. After the death of her father, she’s on her way to a new boarding school in a new city.Moon is a salesman. He makes his living traveling through a series of interconnected worlds on a network of barely used train lines.They never should have met. But when Margo suddenly appears one day on Moon’s train, their fates become inextricably linked. If Margo wants to survive, she has to pass as a traveling salesman, too—except it’s not that easy.Move north on the train line and time speeds up, a day passing in mere hours. Move south and time slows down—a day can last several weeks. Slow worlds are the richest: you live longer, your youth lasting decades. Fast worlds are sharp, cruel, and don’t have time for pleasantries. Death is frequent. Salesmen die young of skipshock. That is, if they’re not shot down by the Southern Guard first.As Margo moves between worlds and her attachment to Moon intensifies, she feels her youth start to slip between her fingers. But is Moon everything he seems? Is Margo?Told through the eyes of both naive Margo and desperate Moon, the unforgettable realm of Skipshock will shake the way you think about love, time, and the fabric of the universe.Set in a universe where time is key to power and privilege, this dazzlingly inventive, genre-defying fantasy romance is the first in a duology.

For as long as Lawson can remember, his life in a small Northwest Territories town has revolved around “the Treaty” between the Dogrib and the Chipewyan, set down centuries ago to prevent the return of bloody warfare between the two peoples.On the Dogrib side, Lawson and his family have done their best to keep the pact alive with the neighbouring Cranes, a family with ancestral ties to a revered Chipewyan war chief. But even as Lawson and his father dutifully tidy the Cranes’ property as an act of respect, their counterparts offer little more than scowls and derision in return, despite the fact that both families are responsible for protecting the treaty.Worse still, it seems that one of the Cranes’ boys, Silver, fresh out of jail, has placed himself in the service of a cruel, ghoulish spirit bent on destroying the peace. Now it's up to Isaiah Valentine, a Cree Grass Dancer, Shari Burns, a Métis psychic, and Lawson Sauron, a Dogrib yabati—or protector—to face what Silver Cranes has called back.Returning to a favourite Northwest Territories setting, Richard Van Camp brings his exuberant style to a captivating teen novel that blends the supernatural with 1980s-era nostalgia to reflect on friendship, tradition and forgiveness. This latest feat of storytelling magic by celebrated author Richard Van Camp blends sharply observed realism and hair-raising horror as it plays out against a 1980s-era backdrop replete with Platinum Blonde songs and episodes of Degrassi Junior High. Unfolding in the fictional town of Fort Simmer—the setting of previous Van Camp stories—Beast delivers a gripping, spirited tale that pits the powers of tradition against the pull of a vengeful past.

Amelia Applebaum isn’t in love with Walter Holland. He just happens to be her favorite moderately famous, chaotically bisexual YouTuber. Who she just happened to invite to prom. (But it’s fine. No, for real. If you delete the post, it didn’t happen.)Okay, maybe her friends are right: She’s slightly parasocially infatuated. But Amelia just knows sparks would fly—if only she could connect with Walter for real.If only he would host a meet and greet.If only it were just a short road trip away.And if only Amelia could talk her best friends into making it the perfect last hurrah before graduation—even her newly single, always-cynical, guitar-toting best friend Natalie.One thing’s for sure: All roads lead to butterflies.But what if Amelia’s butterflies aren’t for Walter at all?

The stories of the four teenage children of prominent abolitionists before and during the Civil War combine to form a surprisingly familiar tapestry of struggle, disappointment, and ultimately hope.Kristina R. Gaddy, author of Flowers in the Gutter, tells the story of America’s tumultuous years leading up to the Civil War and of the war itself from the viewpoints of four children of famous abolitionists, including those of Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. Gaddy crafts a surprisingly contemporary braided coming-of-age narrative, supported by meticulous research and featuring dozens of primary documents. Each of these four young people—two white, two Black—was strongly committed to the anti-slavery cause but felt just as keenly a need to make their own names, away from the often overprotective or disapproving shadows of the famous adults in their lives. This is a true story of how a torch of resistance is passed and how a new generation makes its mark.

So much of who I was had to be hidden. I wondered how it would feel to let that part of me be on full display. Maybe I’d be given the chance to feel. To forget. Or even to breathe…For most sixteen year olds, life is all about friends, fun, and family. But for Matt Franco, it's different. Because Matt and his family are undocumented immigrants—like many other Brazilian émigrés in his town. And that means he can't get a job, he can't get a driver's license, and as for college? Get real. But Matt is also carrying a burden much closer to his own heart.Matt is gay.And right now, he’s the only one who knows it. But that changes when handsome, kind-eyed, and charming transfer student James Alberte walks into class. Because James isn’t just some queer teen crush. He’s everything Matt could ask for—and it’s James’ love, strength, and support that helps Matt finally come out to the world.Unfortunately, love doesn’t necessarily make Matt’s situation any easier. He’s still stranded by his immigrant status, with a future that seems headed for a dead end. And if he’s ever going to be happy, Matt will have to decide what he wants, where he’s headed—and who he is at heart.It won’t be simple. And it certainly won’t be easy.But when it comes to life, love, and everything in between, what is?Inspired by true events—a thoughtful, timely, and emotionally compelling story about coming of age, coming out, and coming into your own…

When Principal Wombat makes monitor lizards Zeke, Daniel, and Alicia hall monitors, Zeke gives up on popularity at his new school. Brought in as part of a district blending program, the monitor lizards were mostly ignored before. Reptiles aren’t bullied any more than other students, but they do stick out among zebras, ostriches, and elk. Why would Principal Wombat make them hall monitors? Alicia explains that it’s because mammals are afraid of being yelled (hissed) at by reptiles. The principal’s just a good general, deploying her resources. Zeke balks, until he gets on the wrong side of Pelicarnassus. More than a bully, the pelican is a famed international supervillain—at least when his mother isn’t looking. Maybe the halls are a war zone, and the school needs a hero. Too bad it isn't... Zeke. Smart, relatable, and densely illustrated in black and white for graphic appeal, this middle-grade series debut by a revered author returns to his themes of grief, bullying, and negotiating differences—but with zeal and comic relief to spare.This funny, wise middle-grade series explodes every stereotype—including what it means to be a hero—in a brilliant reptilian take on surviving school.

Author Wendy Wan-Long Shang dives into the deep end of sportsmanship, prejudice, and the power of friendship in this story about two very different girls and one shared love of swimming.Esme Sun absolutely does not care about winning shiny trophies or finally receiving some of the praise her mother bestows so lavishly on her three older, brilliant sisters. But, actually... it would be nice to be good at something. So when Esme discovers on the first day of summer, opening day at the community pool, that her growth spurt over the winter has made her a really fast swimmer, she wonders if she just might have found that thing.After Esme has an uncomfortable encounter at the pool with a new girl, Kaya, Esme worries she may have hurt Kaya's feelings. Then, embarrassed by Esme's awkwardness, her friend Tegan, the cool girl at school who seems to do everything perfectly, makes Esme promise that from now on, she'll be chill, not act so babyish and intense about things—especially not swim team.But when their swim competitions begin, and Esme starts winning, she finds that she actually cares a lot. In fact, she wants to break the pool's freestyle record. That doesn't mesh so well with her promise to Tegan. And as Esme tries to navigate swimming and her friendships, she searches for a way to apologize and make things right with Kaya.Esme's mom's focus on winning confuses her, and Esme begins to wonder: Is winning really as important as she thinks, even if it means being unkind to her friends and teammates? Or is there another way to compete, to be a good sport and a good friend?

The irrepressible Pickle is back, and now he wants to emulate his favorite superhero who makes rescues on roller skates. But if you’re going to learn to skate, maybe you shouldn’t try it on a big hill! When Pickle finally learns to skate himself, he can’t wait to share what he learns… until he gets the biggest surprise of all.This humorous tale and adorable art will have kids giggling and reading on their own.An easy-to-read delight about a dog who is determined to roller-skate, just like his hero… only he doesn’t know that practice comes first! Comics-lovers can now share the fun with their kids, students, siblings, and younger friends who are learning to read!EndorsementsA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

From James Howe and Jack Wong comes a moving, gorgeously illustrated picture-book biography of one of the greatest cellists of all time, Yo-Yo Ma, and his lifelong passion for using music to unite people in harmony and joy.“I’ve been asking myself all my life, ‘What is the purpose of music?’” — Yo-Yo MaAt a young age, Yo-Yo Ma discovered a remarkable gift for the cello, playing Bach from memory by age four. His technique was far beyond his years, but even as he grew and became a world-class musician—studying at Juilliard, performing at Carnegie Hall at a young age, even playing on television before the president of the United States—he wanted to use his gift for something deeper, something bigger.As he asked question after question, trying to understand his place in the world, he discovered something that every culture has in music.Ma decided that he would spend his life not only performing for others but learning from other cultures’ musical traditions and finding ways to unite people. Even as he dedicated himself to humanitarian work around the world, he taught a new generation of young cellists to play with their whole hearts, bodies, and souls—how to find the music inside themselves.James Howe and Jack Wong tell the story of legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who was special not only because of his unmatched talent but also his curious mind and compassionate heart.Powerfully told and stunningly illustrated, this biography will inspire readers to discover the gifts inside us all.Back matter includes an author’s and an illustrator’s note, a timeline of Ma’s life, and resources to learn more about his life and work.

This is the hedge that grew and grew.The wall of stone a bit askew.This is the gap where the deer slip through,when the sky is still more pink than blue…Throughout the course of a beautiful summer day, from sunrise to moonrise, a host of animals find their way through a gap in the hedge, bringing the farm to life.Discover the wonder that wildlife brings to a small woodland farm in this lyrical cumulative picture book with stunning scratchboard illustrations from Caldecott Medalist Beth Krommes.

When a freediver (one who dives without the benefit of oxygen) slips underwater, he encounters a pod of sperm whales so close he can almost touch them. When he sees blood in the water, he wonders if there's been an injury. When he comes even closer, what he finds instead is a moment-old calf, skin wrinkly and tail fluke still folded from the womb.The calf’s family nudges it up to breathe; nudges it toward each member of the pod, by way of introduction; and then it happens—the mother nudges her child toward the diver, inviting him, too, to share in the family moment.Told from the vantage point of Belgian freediver Fred Buyle, who, with his diving partner Kurt Amsler, are the only people known to have been present at the birth of a sperm whale, In the World of Whales features lyrical-yet-precise text by Michelle Cusolito and dreamlike illustrations by Jessica Lanan, creator of the Sibert Honor book Jumper: A Day in the Life of a Backyard Jumping Spider. At the end of the story, find more information about freediving and whales.Plunge deep into the awe-inspiring true story of a freediver’s encounter with a newborn sperm whale and its family. Any child who dreams of speaking to animals will adore this proof of humanity’s bond with the wild world.EndorsementsA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Ukraine, 2022. Yeva is a loner and a maverick biologist who lives out of her mobile lab. She scours the country’s forests and valleys, trying and failing to breed rare snails while her relatives urge her to give up, settle down, and start a family. What they don’t know: Yeva already dates plenty of men—not for love, but to fund her work—entertaining Westerners who come to Ukraine on guided romance tours believing they’ll find docile brides uninfluenced by feminism and modernity.Nastia and her sister Solomiya are also entangled in the booming marriage industry, posing as a hopeful bride and her translator while secretly searching for their missing mother—a flamboyant protestor who vanished after years of fierce activism against the romance tours. So begins a journey of a lifetime across hundreds of miles: three angry women, a truckful of kidnapped bachelors, and Lefty, a last-of-his-kind snail with one final shot at perpetuating his species. But their plans come to a screeching halt as Russia invades.

An arrest for cocaine possession in the Hamptons on the last day of a sweltering New York summer leaves Smith, a young queer Black Stanford graduate, in a state of turmoil. Pulled into the court system and mandated treatment, he finds himself in an absurd but dangerous situation: his class protects him, but his race does not.It’s just weeks after the death of his beloved roommate Elle, a glamorous member of the Black elite, and he’s still reeling from the tabloid spectacle—as well as the lingering questions of how well he really knew his closest friend and what exactly happened to her that night. He flees to his hometown of Atlanta, but the weight of expectations from his family of doctors, lawyers, and college presidents only pushes him further into his downward spiral. When his close friend Carolyn goes off the rails, Smith decides to return to New York to find out what happened to her and Elle. But it’s not long before he begins to lose himself to his old life, drawn back into the city’s underworld where his search for answers may end up costing him his freedom and his future.Smith goes on a dizzying journey through the New York City nightlife circuit, anonymous recovery rooms, Atlanta’s Black society set, police investigations and courtroom dramas, and a circle of friends coming of age in a new era. Great Black Hope is a propulsive, glittering story about what it means to exist between worlds, to be upwardly mobile yet spiraling downward, and how to find a way back to hope.A gripping, elegant debut novel about a young Black man caught between worlds of race and class, glamour and tragedy, a friend’s mysterious death and his own arrest, from an electrifying new voice.