Happy New Release Tuesday, Kid Lit Friends!
There are some really fun new books out today, including great middle grade fantasy and adventure, rogue robots, the board book version of Press Here, and a nonfiction about the Brooklyn Bridge. Check these out and let me know what books you want to put on your TBR.
As always, if I’ve read a book and loved it, I marked it with a 
. Please note that all descriptions from Goodreads.
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Board Book New Release
Press Here Board Book by Herve Tullet
Now even the smallest hands can get in on all the hands-on fun of Hervé Tullet’s bestselling Press Here. The longest-running picture book on the New York Times bestseller list, this interactive children’s classic is now available as a sturdy, durable board book to share with a whole new generation of fans.
Picture Book New Releases
The Donkey Egg by Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel, illustrated by Janet Stevens
Bear would rather sleep all day than work on his farm, and Fox knows just the kind of help he needs—a donkey! When Fox tricks Bear into buying a donkey egg, Bear can’t wait for it to hatch so he can meet his new friend. But donkeys don’t come from eggs! And when the “egg” finally opens, Bear gets a fruity surprise. Luckily, Bear doesn’t have to face disappointment alone . . . Hare is there to help!
What About Harry? by Derek Anderson
Harry and Sam are best friends who do everything together. Like build castles. Jump into ponds. And swing on swings. But when Harry realizes that Sam can build bigger, jump higher, and swing better than he can, he decides he’d be happier without Sam. All by himself, Harry can be the greatest! All by himself, Harry is… alone. Is being the best at everything worth it if you don’t have a friend to share the fun with?
Max Explains Everything: Soccer Expert by Stacy McAnulty, illustrated by Deborah Hocking
Max knows a lot about soccer. After all, he’s been playing it for almost three weeks! So he’s pretty much an expert. Here Max shares his one-of-a-kind helpful tips including how to warm up (stretch, twirl, somersault), who’s who on the field (the ref is in yellow and wears a whistle–you should not bring your own whistle), and what to do with your hands since you can’t touch the ball (wave at fans, hide them in your shirt, play itsy-bitsy spider). But could Max possibly be forgetting something very important?
The Happy Book by Andy Rash
Camper is happy as a clam and Clam is a happy camper. When you live in The Happy Book, the world is full of daisies and sunshine and friendship cakes . . . until your best friend eats the whole cake and doesn’t save you one bite. Moving from happiness to sadness and everything in between, Camper and Clam have a hard time finding their way back to happy. But maybe happy isn’t the goal–being a good friend is about supporting each other and feeling all the feels together.
This Book is Spineless by Lindsay Leslie, illustrated by Alice Brereton
With suspense and humor, this wary and unadventurous book uses the five senses to try and figure out what kind of story might be on its pages.
Does it hear spooky wails from a ghost story?
Can it see a mysterious something peeking around a corner?
Is that the dizzy feeling of zero gravity it senses?
Might that be the stinky smell of animals in nature it detects?
Could it be tasting the saltiness of a story on the high seas?
Middle Grade New Releases
The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away by Ronald L. Smith
Twelve-year-old Simon is obsessed with aliens. The ones who take people and do experiments. When he’s too worried about them to sleep, he listens to the owls hoot outside. Owls that have the same eyes as aliens—dark and foreboding. Then something strange happens on a camping trip, and Simon begins to suspect he’s been abducted. But is it real, or just the overactive imagination of a kid who loves fantasy and role-playing games and is the target of bullies and his father’s scorn?
Secret in the Stone by Kamilla Benko
Claire Martinson and her sister Sophie have decided to stay in Arden–the magical land they discovered by climbing up a chimney in their great-aunt’s manor. If what they’ve learned is true, the sisters are the last descendants of the royal family, and only a true heir of Arden–with magic in her blood–can awaken the unicorns. Since Sophie has does not have magic, the land’s last hope rests on Claire. The sisters journey to Stonehaven, a famed Gemmer school high in the mountains of Arden, so Claire can train in the magic of stone. As Claire struggles through classes, Sophie uncovers dangerous secrets about the people they thought they could trust. With Arden on the brink of crumbling, can Claire prove she is the prophesied heir and unlock the magic of the unicorns before it’s too late?
Revenge of the Enginerds by Jarrett Lerner
When last we met, the EngiNerds were battling a horde of ravenous robots, but in this latest caper, they’re on the hunt for just one rogue robot. But who knows what kind of mayhem one mechanical creature can cause? And why is Ken the only EngiNerd who’s worried about the runaway robot? The rest of the crew seems be missing in action and Ken fears it’s because of Mikaela Harrington. She’s the new girl in town who’s UFO and alien-obsessed and wants to join the EngiNerds. But as far as Ken is concerned, the EngiNerds are Y-chromosome only, no X’s allowed!
Nonfiction New Release
Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge by Rachel Dougherty
On a warm spring day in 1883, a woman rode across the Brooklyn Bridge with a rooster on her lap. It was the first trip across an engineering marvel that had taken nearly fourteen years to construct. The woman’s husband was the chief engineer, and he knew all about the dangerous new technique involved. The woman insisted she learn as well. When he fell ill mid-construction, her knowledge came in handy. Women weren’t supposed to be engineers, but this woman insisted she could do it all, and her hard work helped to create one of the most iconic landmarks in the world.
Backlist Book Recommendations
Backlist titles are older books from a publisher, typically a title that is more than one year old.
Backlist Picture Book Recommendation: If A Bus Could Talk by Faith Ringgold
If a bus could talk, it would tell the story of a young African-American girl named Rosa who had to walk miles to her one-room schoolhouse in Alabama while white children rode to their school in a bus. It would tell how the adult Rosa rode to and from work on a segregated city bus and couldn’t sit in the same row as a white person. It would tell of the fateful day when Rosa refused to give up her seat to a white man and how that act of courage inspired others around the world to stand up for freedom.
Backlist Middle Grade Recommendation: Jefferon’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Beverly, Harriet, Madison, and Eston are Thomas Jefferson’s children by one of his slaves, Sally Hemings, and while they do get special treatment – better work, better shoes, even violin lessons – they are still slaves, and are never to mention who their father is. The lighter-skinned children have been promised a chance to escape into white society, but what does this mean for the children who look more like their mother? As each child grows up, their questions about slavery and freedom become tougher, calling into question the real meaning of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” Told in three parts from the points of view of three of Jefferson’s slaves – Beverly, Madison, and a third boy close to the Hemings family – these engaging and poignant voices shed light on what life was like as one of Jefferson’s invisible offspring.
Backlist Nonfiction Recommendation: Fly High!: The Story of Bessie Coleman by Louise Borden, illustrated by Mary Kay Kroeger and Teresa Flavin
When Bessie Coleman was a child, she wanted to be in school — not in the cotton fields of Texas, helping her family earn money. She wanted to be somebody significant in the world. So Bessie did everything she could to learn under the most challenging of circumstances. At the end of every day in the fields she checked the foreman’s numbers — made sure his math was correct. And this was just the beginning of a life of hard work and dedication that really paid off: Bessie became the first African-American to earn a pilot’s license. She was somebody.
I would love to know what you are reading this week! Find me on Twitter at @KarinaYanGlaser, on Instagram at @KarinaIsReadingAndWriting, or email me at karina@bookriot.com.
Until next time!
Karina
I decided to keep the cat bed in one of the spots in our IKEA bookshelf. It is now a very coveted sleeping area!
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