News

Journalist-cartoonist who pioneered the real-life cartooning format in his weekly Village Voice column Stan Mack's STAN MACK'S REAL LIFE FUNNIES 1974-1994, a compendium of his strips covering two rambunctious decades in the life of New York City

Ashley Wilda's RAETH, a debut that employs magical realism and a mix of poetry and prose, about a teen struggling with heartbreak and depression; when she is sent to a remote mountain retreat to recover, she soon discovers that her surreal surroundings change every time she ventures out, challenging her reality

Shauna Cagan's ADDIE AND THE AMAZING ACROBATS, in which a girl and her best buddies are sweet bat pups by day and daring acrobats by night—but she has stars in her eyes and sets out on her own to find fame and fortune, leaving her crew behind; what's more important, fame or friends?

Stephanie Sellers's SEDNA'S DAUGHTERS, uncovering the universal and dysfunctional patterns of family aggression against daughters

Diane deGroat's ADVENTURES OF ROBO-KID has been selected as the Junior Library Guild's Gold Standard Collection for 2022. ADVENTURES OF ROBO-KID will be published by Holiday House Summer 2022

The 2022 Best of the Net Anthology, which includes the best poetry and prose published online, selects Demree McGhee's poem Calling My Mothers in the Apocalypse. Originally published and nominated by Poetry Online. 

Jeffrey Dale Lofton's RED CLAY SUZIE, a story of a gay, physically misshapen boy of the Deep South who struggles against expectations, indifference, & rejection to find strength in lessons learned in his grandfather's garden & through his passion for the boy to whom he gives his heart,to be published by Post Hill Press

From authors Shelley Rotner and Gwen Agna, with photography by Rotner, TRUE YOU, an affirming photographic picture book of trans and gender nonconforming kids that leads with inclusivity, love, and empathy, accentuating trans and genderfluid joy, acquired by Chris Krones at Clarion Books at auction. 

Crystal Simone Smith's DARK TESTAMENT, a volume of erasure poetry drawn from George Saunders's novel LINCOLN IN THE BARDO which connects the agonized voices haunting Lincoln to the grieving chorus of protests in today's Black Lives Matter movement, acquired by Kate Farrell for Holt Children's at auction. 

Erica Simone Turnipseed's BIGGER THAN ME, which follows the emotional journey of two siblings who struggle with the weight of the words that capture the turmoil and sadness of our times but learn that no problem is “too big” for them to carry if they're not alone, acquired by Caitlyn Dlouhy at Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

Author of CLASS CLOWN Johanna Hurwitz's THE UNEXPECTED ADVENTURES OF C.A.T., a chapter book in which a girl takes a tiny taste of cat food and dreams that she has turned into a cat to Dena Neusner at Apples and Honey Press, with Aviva Gutnick editing, in a two-book deal for publication in Spring 2023.

Author-illustrator and SCBWI Crystal Kite Award winner Janice Hechter's NEXT YEAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE, an illustrated nonfiction account of Eric Lesser's experience as a young Jewish staffer who organized an impromptu Passover Seder during Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, to Alexander Zablotsky at PJ Library 

Children's science author Seymour Simon's HOW TO BE A GOOD PUPPY, a creative nonfiction story about a child and their new puppy each learning from the other, to be published both in print and as a Read-to-Me eBook, illustrated by Doug Cushman, to Seymour Science.  

Author-illustrator of the children's photo essay book SHADES OF PEOPLE Shelley Rotner's EVERY BODY, a photo essay book about inclusivity, to Mary Cash at Holiday House, for publication in Spring 2023 

Author/illustrator of the 2020 YALSA finalist THE GREAT NIJINSKY Lynn Curlee's THE OTHER PANDEMIC: AN AIDS MEMOIR, an illustrated account of coming of age during the gay liberation movement in NYC and living through the AIDS pandemic, losing friends and his life partner, to Yolanda Scott at Charlesbridge Teen 

90 Day Fiance producer Lissette Decos's debut FOUR FROGS, an #OwnVoices Latinx romantic comedy in which the producer of a hit reality TV show decides to date four different men, sure she can find one prince, to Leah Hultenschmidt at Forever, in a two-book deal, for publication in Spring 2023

Author-illustrator Emma Fick's BORDER CROSSINGS: A JOURNEY ON THE TRANS-SIBERIAN RAILWAY, which documents the longest railway journey in the world—winding from China, through Mongolia and Siberia to Moscow—in watercolor illustrations and handwritten text, to Elizabeth Sullivan at Harper Design 

Author-illustrator of the Gilbert and Friends series Diane deGroat's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBO-KID, tracking two parallel stories, one in the real world and one inside a comic book; they intersect when the real-life kid and the comic book superhero find they need each other's help, to Neal Porter at Neal Porter Books