The Children’s Book Review | September 1, 2014
Hot New Releases & Popular Kids Stories
Saddle up, readers! With so many amazing children’s books releasing it was hard to select just five of the best new kids stories to share with you this month. We’ve listed a new and brilliant spin-off from Kate DiCamillo’s Mercy Watson series, two follow-up graphic novels to two New York Times best selling series, a beautiful picture book from Caldecott Medal winner Aaron Becker, and an inspiring book offering 365 days of wonder.
Publisher’s synopsis: The companion to Raina Telgemeier’s #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling and Eisner Award-winning graphic memoir, SMILE.
Raina can’t wait to be a big sister. But once Amara is born, things aren’t quite how she expected them to be. Amara is cute, but she’s also a cranky, grouchy baby, and mostly prefers to play by herself. Their relationship doesn’t improve much over the years, but when a baby brother enters the picture and later, something doesn’t seem right between their parents, they realize they must figure out how to get along. They are sisters, after all.
Raina uses her signature humor and charm in both present-day narrative and perfectly placed flashbacks to tell the story of her relationship with her sister, which unfolds during the course of a road trip from their home in San Francisco to a family reunion in Colorado.
Ages 8-12 | Publisher: GRAPHIX | AUg. 26, 2014 | ISBN-13: 978-0545540605
Publisher’s synopsis: In the #1 New York Times bestselling novel Wonder, readers were introduced to memorable English teacher Mr. Browne and his love of precepts. Simply put, precepts are principles to live by, and Mr. Browne has compiled 365 of them—one for each day of the year—drawn from popular songs to children’s books to inscriptions on Egyptian tombstones to fortune cookies. His selections celebrate kindness, hopefulness, the goodness of human beings, the strength of people’s hearts, and the power of people’s wills. Interspersed with the precepts are letters and emails from characters who appeared in Wonder. Readers hear from Summer, Jack, Charlotte, Julian, and Amos.
There’s something for everyone here, with words of wisdom from such noteworthy people as Anne Frank, Martin Luther King Jr., Confucius, Goethe, Sappho—and over 100 readers of Wonder who sent R. J. Palacio their own precepts.
Ages 8-12 | Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers | Aug. 26, 2014 | ISBN-13: 978-0553499049
Publisher’s synopsis: Kazu Kibuishi’s #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling series continues!
Navin and his classmates journey to Lucien, a city ravaged by war and plagued by mysterious creatures, where they search for a beacon essential to their fight against the Elf King. Meanwhile, Emily heads back into the Void with Max, one of the Elf King’s loyal followers, where she learns his darkest secrets. The stakes, for both Emily and Navin, are higher than ever.
Ages 8-12 | Publisher: GRAPHIX | Aug. 26, 2014 | ISBN-13: 978-0545433150
By Aaron Becker
Publisher’s synopsis: Aaron Becker, creator of Journey, a Caldecott Honor book, presents the next chapter in his stunning wordless fantasy.
A king emerges from a hidden door in a city park, startling two children sheltering from the rain. No sooner does he push a map and some strange objects into their hands than he is captured by hostile forces that whisk him back through the enchanted door. Just like that, the children are caught up in a quest to rescue the king and his kingdom from darkness, while illuminating the farthest reaches of their imagination. Colored markers in hand, they make their own way through the portal, under the sea, through a tropical paradise, over a perilous bridge, and high in the air with the help of a winged friend.Journey lovers will be thrilled to follow its characters on a new adventure threaded with familiar elements, while new fans will be swept into a visually captivating story that is even richer and more exhilarating than the first.
Ages 4-8 | Publisher: Candlewick | Aug. 26, 2014 | ISBN-13: 978-0763665951
By Kate DiCamillo; Illustrated by Chris Van Dusen
Publisher’s synopsis: Yippie-i-oh! Saddle up for the first in a spin-off series starring favorite characters from Kate DiCamillo’s New York Times best-selling Mercy Watson books.
Leroy Ninker has a hat, a lasso, and boots. What he doesn’t have is a horse — until he meets Maybelline, that is, and then it’s love at first sight. Maybelline loves spaghetti and sweet nothings, and she loves Leroy, too. But when Leroy forgets the third and final rule of caring for Maybelline, disaster ensues. Can Leroy wrestle fate to the ground, rescue the horse of his heart, and lasso loneliness for good? Join Leroy, Maybelline, and a cast of familiar characters — Stella, Frank, Mrs. Watson, and everyone’s favorite porcine wonder, Mercy — for some hilarious and heartfelt horsing around on Deckawoo Drive.
Ages 6-9 | Publisher: Candlewick | Aug. 26, 2014 | ISBN-13: 978-0763663391
Did anything we showed you pique your interest? Are you ready to gallop off to the library or bookstore to pick up one of these popular books for kids? Don’t be shy to let us know which are the best new kids stories you’ve recently read and loved. For more popular kids books, follow along with our tag for Popular Kids Stories.