Spring preview 2012: books for young people

In the January/February issue, Q&Q looks ahead at the spring season’s new books.

FICTION

Spring sees the Canadian launch of Penguin Canada’s Razorbill imprint for young readers, and the publishing house is banking on a couple of high-profile releases to set the ball in motion. The follow-up to Hiromi Goto’s Sunburst Award–winning Half World is Darkest Light ($21 cl., Feb.), in which 16-year-old orphan Gee embarks on a dark journey of discovery. Jillian Tamaki again lends her considerable talent to the illustrations. • Vancouver paramedic turned scribe Carrie Mac explores what happens when the messy life of 15-year-old Junie is further complicated by her mother’s compulsive hoarding in The Opposite of Tidy ($16 pa., April).

In Toronto author Helaine Becker’s How to Survive Absolutely Anything (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, $9.95 pa., April), Bonnie and her best friend, Jen, start an advice blog for the middle-school set. But can Bonnie’s wise ways prevail when it comes to her troublesome new stepbrother, Carter? • Alice Kuipers’ debut, Life on the Refrigerator Door, was published in 29 countries. In her third novel, 40 Things I Want to Tell You (HarperCollins Canada, $14.99 pa., Feb.), Amy (a.k.a. Bird) is another advice-doling teen who has trouble practicing what she preaches when a new “bad boy” shows up at school and threatens her relationship with her long-time steady. • Pajama Press has Nova Scotian Sylvia Gunnery’s new novel, Emily for Real ($14.95 pa., March), which revolves around a 17-year-old girl who, after a bad breakup and the revelation of some scandalous family secrets, finds solace in an unlikely friendship with a troubled classmate. • Eileen Cook has a reputation for writing funny, realistic junior chick-lit with a twist. Her latest, Unraveling Isobel (Simon & Schuster, $18.99 cl., Jan.) follows a similar path, with the titular character facing the challenges of her dippy mother’s hasty marriage to an Internet beau, her relocation to a remote small town, her dreamy stepbrother, and the possibility that she just might be losing her mind.

Teresa Toten, of the witty Blonde series, has teamed up with the unstoppable Eric Walters for The Taming (Doubleday Canada, $14.95 pa., Jan.), which bills itself as a cross between Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist and The Taming of the Shrew. • Debut novelist Leah Bobet creates a safe haven for outsiders and shape-shifters under the streets of Toronto in her dystopian romance Above (Scholastic Canada, $19.99 cl., March). • Degrassi Junior High scriptwriter Kathryn Ellis makes her YA debut with Home in Time for Dinner (Red Deer Press, $12.95 pa., May), in which a boy discovers he was the victim of parental abduction when he spots a digitally aged picture of himself on the news.

There is no denying the immense popularity of Kelley Armstrong’s sexy, dark teen fantasy novels. The Calling (Doubleday Canada, $19.99 cl., April) is the second instalment in her Darkness Rising trilogy. In it, Maya’s small Vancouver Island town is threatened by an arsonist’s forest fire. Her affinity with wild animals in the surrounding woods may be her only hope for survival. • From Great Plains Teen Fiction comes Jocelyn Shipley’s How to Tend a Grave ($14.95 pa., April), a story about a chance meeting in a cemetery between a teenaged boy who has lost his mother and a girl who has lost her baby.

Best known for her Stella and Sam series of picture books, Marie-Louise Gay once again teams up with husband David Homel for a sequel to their two previous travelogues. This time Charlie and his family explore their own metropolis of Montreal in Summer in the City (Groundwood Books, $15.95 cl., April). • Fourteen-year-old Johanna longs to see what life is like outside of the Jewish quarter in Anne Dublin’s 18th-century historical novel The Baby Experiment (Dundurn Press, $9.99 pa., May). When she discovers that babies in the Hamburg orphanage where she works are being used for experiments, she is forced to grow up quickly. • A Jewish girl and a Christian boy find friendship and hope together in pre-revolutionary Russia in Rachel’s Secret (Second Story Press, $12.95 pa., April) by first-time novelist Shelly Sanders.

Getting some boys to read can be a perennial challenge, so it’s a good thing Redcoats and Renegades (Thistledown Press, $15.95 pa., March) by B.C. journalist Barry McDivitt is aimed squarely at reluctant readers. McDivitt’s tale centres on a young malcontent from New York who gains the dubious distinction of being the first person arrested by the new North-West Mounted Police and is forced to endure the long, difficult trek to Fort Whoop-Up. • Jean Rae Baxter’s The Way Lies North told the story of Charlotte, a young Loyalist, and her family as they travelled north to Canada during the American Revolution; it was followed by a sequel, Broken Trail. Baxter wraps up the trilogy in Freedom Bound (Ronsdale Press, $11.95 pa., Feb.), in which Charlotte, now 18, ventures to Charleston, South Carolina, to find her new husband, Nick, and help a couple of runaway slaves as they try to survive the waning days of the revolution.

Governor General’s Literary Award winner Michael Bedard showcases his love of poetry in his latest novel for young readers, The Green Man (Tundra Books, $21.99 cl., April). The tragically monikered Ophelia (known only by her first initial) agrees to spend the summer helping her Aunt Emily recover from a heart attack, managing both the elder woman’s home and her chaotic antiquarian bookshop. But O gets more than she bargained for when she unearths a long-buried mystery. • After an auspicious start to his career writing adult fiction, Alberta’s Thomas Wharton has found success in the YA market as well. The Fathomless Fire (Doubleday Canada, $19.95 cl., Jan.), the second instalment of his Perilous Realm trilogy, continues the story of young Will, who returns to the land of Fable and learns that his beloved Rowen is missing. • Red Deer Press is set to publish a debut novel by Alberta’s Amy Bright. Before We Go ($12.95 pa., May) describes a New Year’s Eve like no other when teens Emily and Alex meet at the hospital where Emily is visiting her dying grandmother.

Actor, stable owner, and wife of former Ontario Premier David Peterson, Shelley Peterson showcases her love of horses in the Saddle Creek series for young readers. The sixth novel, Dark Days at Saddle Creek (Dancing Cat Books, $12.95 pa., March) once again features Bird, a girl who is able to communicate with animals. • Vancouver journalist John Lekich is set to publish his third YA novel, The Prisoner of Snowflake Falls (Orca Book Publishers, $12.95 pa., March), in which a 15-year-old burglar is sent to live with a strange family in a small town. When his uncle is sprung from the big house and comes up with a scheme to rob the town’s residents, he must choose between family loyalty and doing the right thing.

Lorimer has tapped sports fanatic Lorna Schultz Nicholson for its new six-book Podium Sports Academy series, the first of which, Rookie ($9.95 pa., March), tells the story of newbie hockey player Aaron Wong, whose team captain seems to have it in for him. • Métis writer Jacqueline Guest is known for her sports-themed and historical YA novels featuring native Canadian protagonists. Her latest, Outcasts of River Falls (Coteau Books, $8.95 pa., April), is a sequel to 2004’s Belle of Batoche. Belle is all grown up, and this time it’s her niece, a young Victorian lady named Kathryn from Toronto, who is in for a bit of culture shock when she arrives in Buffalo Hills, Alberta, and has to come to terms with a heritage she didn’t know about.

Apparently, Q&Q is a fan of Montreal illustrator and graphic novelist Matthew Forsythe. He illustrated My Name Is Elizabeth by Annika Dunklee, which was a 2011 Book of the Year. His debut graphic novel, Ojingogo, was a pick in 2008. The sequel, Jinchalo (Drawn & Quarterly, $19.95 pa., Feb.), follows the pint-sized heroine of Ojingogo on another adventure through Forsythe’s Miyazaki-esque world.

PICTURE BOOKS

Laurel and Hardy, Holmes and Watson, peanut butter and jam – some things just go better together. Robert Munsch and Michael Martchenko figured that out a number of years ago, and have been teaming up to produce silly, insanely popular books ever since. Their latest effort is It’s My Room! (Scholastic Canada, $7.99 pa., $19.99 cl., Feb.), in which Matthew has to battle his relatives and friends for space in the family trailer. • Vicky Metcalf Award winner Sheree Fitch’s latest picture book, Night Sky Wheel Ride (Tradewind Books, $16.95 cl., May) follows the same path as her previous works, with tongue-twisting lines and nonsense words describing a brother and sister as they explore a nighttime fair and embark on a Ferris wheel adventure. Boldly hued illustrations by Quebec artist and author Yayo accompany Fitch’s text.

Following her adorable and clever picture-book debut, Giraffe and Bird, author, illustrator, and designer Rebecca Bender returns with Don’t Laugh at Giraffe (Pajama, $19.95 cl., May), in which Giraffe’s awkward attempt at graceful rehydration is met with laughter from other animals on the savannah. • Canadian Jeremy Tankard (of Boo Hoo Bird and Grumpy Bird fame) illustrates New Yorker Rachel Vail’s story about Liam the pig, who just wants to rock a bunny suit and learn how to hop in Piggy Bunny (Feiwel & Friends/Raincoast Books, $16.99 cl., Feb.). • Nominated in its original French for a 2011 Prix TD de littérature canadienne pour l’enfance et la jeunesse, Martine Audet’s Martin on the Moon ($16.95 cl., April), translated by Sarah Quinn, is set to be published in English by Owlkids. Luc Melanson illustrates the story, about a boy whose imagination first gets him into trouble, then endears him to his classmates.

Simply Read Books is offering Wild Berries ($18.95 cl., April) by Métis and Cree multimedia artist and illustrator Julie Flett. The book, in which a young boy learns to pick wild blueberries with his grandmother on a sunny summer day, includes some words in Cree. • Find Scruncheon and Touton 2: All Around Newfoundland (Creative Book Publishing, $10.95 pa., May) is the sequel to the Where’s Waldo-esque 2011 effort about two dogs on the loose by mother-daughter illustrators Nancy and Laurel Keating.

Known for her adult fiction, Donna Morrissey makes her kidlit debut with Cross Katie Kross (Puffin Canada, $18 cl., Feb.), about a persnickety old woman who goes in search of a personal nirvana free of chores, animals, and bothersome people. Artist Bridgette Morrissey helps out her mom with illustrations. • It’s not all ogres and underwater monsters in the Arctic; there are dwarves too! CBC Radio personality Alan Neal and author Neil Christopher team up to tell the story of Ava and the Little Folk (Inhabit Media, $13.95 cl., March), in which an orphan left on her own by village elders stumbles upon a group of magical munchkins. Iqaluit resident Jonathan Wright’s illustrations offer instant visual appeal.

NON-FICTION

Deborah Ellis continues to do what she does best, chronicling the lives of children in war-torn and Third World countries in stories that resonate with First World readers. In Kids of Kabul: Living Bravely Through a Neverending War (Groundwood, $15.95 cl., April), she revisits the kids who inspired the Breadwinner trilogy 11 years ago to find out what their lives are like now. • Former Chickadee magazine editor Catherine Ripley teams up with illustrator Scot Ritchie on another fact book in the same format as their classic Why? series. How? The Most Awesome Question and Answer Book about Nature, Animals, People, Places – and You! (Owlkids, $19.95 cl.) appears in May. • Combining narrative, photos, comics, maps, and even fake tweets, Hey Canada! (Tundra Books, $21.99 cl., May) by former Vancouver educator Vivien Bowers (with illustrations by Milan Pavlovic) uses a fictional grandma and two grandkids to explore the country from coast to coast, relaying tidbits of history and geography along the way.

A science book with an environmental bent, The Big Green Book of the Big Blue Sea (Kids Can Press, $10.95 pa., $16.95 cl., April) by Helaine Becker, with illustrations by Willow Dawson, uses experiments with everyday objects to teach kids about oceanic ecosystems and the effects of pollution. • Junior CSI fans might enjoy Seeing Red: The True Story of Blood (Annick Press, $14.95 pa., $22.95 cl., Feb.) by Vancouver author Tanya Lloyd Kyi, who informs readers about all things sanguineous, from sacrifices to forensics. One hopes accompanying illustrations by graphic novelist Steve Rolston only required a bit of sweat and tears.

It’s a favourite kindergarten class project, and now there’s a handy guide from Carol Pasternak. How to Raise Monarch Butterflies: A Step-by-Step Guide for Kids (Firefly Books, $8.95 pa., $19.95 cl.) appears in April. • Literature for LGBT teens can be hard to come by, so Ivan E. Coyote’s collection of stories about her own experiences growing up queer, and of others who have inspired her, One in Every Crowd (Arsenal Pulp Press, $17.95 pa., March), is a welcome arrival.

INTERNATIONAL

In The Rumour (Tundra, $19.99 cl., May), Indian nonsense poet Anushka Ravishankar crafts a story about the village of Baddpaddpur, where telling tales is an art form. Kanyika Kini provides vivid illustrations. • It’s been 65 years since the Moomins first appeared in a Finnish-Swedish newspaper, but people just can’t get enough of those hippo-esque creatures. Drawn & Quarterly releases Moomin Book 7: The Complete Lars Jansson Comic Strip ($19.95 cl.) in March.

Was Precious precocious? Alexander McCall Smith answers that question when he takes readers back to his beloved character’s childhood in The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe’s Very First Case (Anchor Canada, $7.99 pa., April), a YA addition to his Number 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series. • In Adrian Fogelin’s Summer on the Moon (Peachtree/Fitz & Whits, $15.95 cl., April), Socko’s mom just wants to get him out of their crummy neighbourhood and away from the threat of the local gang. When they move to a new community, he realizes he isn’t the only one with problems.

William Joyce may win the prize for lengthiest title for his E. Aster Bunnymund and the Battle of the Warrior Eggs at the Earth’s Core! (S&S, $16.99 cl., Feb.), a picture book in which the Easter bunny is much more than just a fuzzy, cotton-tailed source of chocolate eggs. • Katherine Applegate gives us Ivan the gorilla, who thinks he has it pretty good living in a glass cage at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. At least until Ruby the baby elephant arrives and enlightens him. The One and Only Ivan (HarperCollins, $10.99 pa.) appears in January. • A deadly plague, alien invaders, androids, and even a prince feature in Marissa Meyer’s debut sci-fi novel, Cinder (Feiwel & Friends/Raincoast, $19.99 cl., Jan.), in which the titular character is a girl on a mission to save the world. (Did we mention she’s a cyborg?)

The fine print: Q&Q’s spring preview covers books published between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2012. All information (titles, prices, publication dates, etc.) was supplied by publishers and may have been tentative at Q&Q’s press time. • Titles that have been listed in previous previews do not appear here.

Fall preview 2011: books for young people

In the July/August issue, Q&Q looks ahead at the fall season’s biggest books.

FICTION
Kenneth Oppel has become a kidlit star while mostly steering clear of the genre end of YA fiction. His early 1990s sci-fi thriller novels, Dead Water Zone and The Live Forever Machine, now seem slightly anomalous in his list of published works. With This Dark Endeavour (HarperCollins Canada, $19.99 cl., Aug.), however, Oppel appears to make a slight return to that earlier mode. The novel tells the tale of a young Victor Frankenstein who dares to try creating the Elixir of Life to help save his ailing twin brother Konrad. Revisioning the mad doctor’s backstory has been done many times before, but Oppel will almost certainly pull off his own entry into the Frankenstein canon with aplomb.

It is generally understood that not even global apocalypse will prevent Eric Walters from publishing books. How appropriate, then, that one of his new novels is End of Days (Doubleday Canada, $14.95 pa., Sept.), in which the world appears to be doomed, and renowned scientists appear to be dying by the dozen. Things are not what they appear, however – one word: aliens. • Walters will also release Cat Boy (Orca Book Publishers, $9.95 pa., Aug.), about a boy trying to save a family of junkyard cats, and Just Deserts (Puffin Canada, $12.99 pa., Aug.), co-written with ultra-marathoner Ray Zahab, about a boy who must cross the Sahara on foot.

Deborah Ellis has mastered the trick of creating fiction that aims at inspiring social awareness and fomenting justice, without being dry or overly pedantic. Her new novel, No Ordinary Day (Groundwood Books, $16.95 cl., Sept.), tells the story of a young Indian girl who escapes a life of drudgery to wander the country, only to discover she has leprosy. It seems hardly a premise to get young readers excited, but Ellis’s hundreds of thousands of fans know the book will be just as engaging as it is eye-opening. • Ellis’s other novel of the season is a slight departure for her: True Blue ($19.95 cl., Sept.) is a mystery in which two teen friends are implicated in the murder of a young camper. The novel is one of the first releases from well-known kidlit editor Gail Winskill’s new company, Pajama Press.

Novelist and journalist Don Gillmor makes his first foray into YA fiction with The Time Time Stopped (Scholastic Canada, $7.99 pa., Oct.), a comic tale about a boy who hates time so much, he tries to stop it. • Comics artist (and Coach House Books publicist) Evan Munday makes his YA debut with The Dead Kid Detective Agency (ECW Press, $11.95 pa., Oct.), in which a 13-year-old girl must solve grisly mysteries with the help of five dead teenagers who live in the cemetery near her home.

Montreal’s P.J. Bracegirdle wraps up his Joy of Spooking trilogy with Sinister Scenes (Simon & Schuster, $18.99 cl., Aug.), in which old grudges are settled, and secrets revealed. • Tower of Treasure, the first instalment in Scott Chantler’s Three Thieves series, was a graphic novel packed with action, intrigue, and daring escapes. In the second book, The Sign of the Black Rock (Kids Can Press, $19.95 cl., Sept.), the three fugitives wait out a massive storm in a small inn and tavern. All goes well until the queen’s soldiers pursuing them decide to take shelter there, too. • Sir Seth and Sir Ollie set out on a new, waterlogged quest in Sir Seth Thistlethwaite and the Kingdom of Caves (Owlkids Books, $15.95 cl., Sept.) by Richard Thake and illustrator Vince Chui.

In the fourth volume of Nova Scotia author Philip Roy’s Submarine Outlaw series, Alfred sets out on a slightly morbid tour of the Pacific Ocean, visiting sites associated with historical horrors. Doing so, he encounters modern environmental horrors like shrimp trawlers and giant, floating plastic islands, transforming him into an eco-warrior. Ghost of the Pacific (Ronsdale Press, $11.95 pa.) publishes in September. • The massively successful 39 Clues series gets restarted with an all-new adventure in Cahills vs. Vespers: The Medusa Plot (Scholastic, $14.99 cl., Aug.) by Gordon Korman. In the new book, the kids do global battle with the Vespers. • The Boy Sherlock Holmes’s fifth case, as it unfolds in Shane Peacock’s The Dragon Turn (Tundra Books, $21.99 cl., Oct.), involves murder and magicians.

Look out: Long John Silver has a ’tween-age grandaughter. In Adira Rotstein’s Little Jane Silver (Dundurn Press, $12.99 pa., July), the plucky 12-year-old must prove she is worthy of her heritage when her pirate parents’ ship is sabotaged. • Mike Deas, the illustrator of Orca’s Graphic Guide Adventure series, returns with an odd-sounding mash-up of a graphic novel in which two pop-eyed aliens from the planet Budap end up fighting to save a struggling fishing community in B.C. All the space/fish action can be found in Dalen and Gole: Scandal in Port Angus (Orca, $9.95 pa., Oct.). • In Kit Pearson’s The Whole Truth (HarperCollins Canada, $19.99 cl., Aug.), two sisters are sent to live with their grandmother on an island near Victoria, taking with them a secret that threatens to be exposed just as they are building their new lives.

In C.K. Kelly Martin’s new novel, My Beating Teenage Heart (Doubleday Canada, $21 cl., Sept.), the narrative is split between two characters: a desperately unhappy teenage boy and a woman, stuck in some nether dimension between life and death, who must constantly observe the boy. Question is: who’s got it worse? • In the wake of Darren Aronofsky’s film Black Swan, tales of battling ballerinas are big. Love You, Hate You (Dundurn, $ 12.99 pa., Nov.), the first novel by Vancouver’s Charis Marsh (herself a dancer), tells of the struggle of four Vancouver International Ballet Academy students as they prepare for their first performance of The Nutcracker. • Paul Yee’s Money Boy (Groundwood, $16.95 cl., Sept.) is the story of a young Chinese immigrant turfed out of his comfortable suburban life when his family finds out he is gay.

Iain Lawrence’s The Winter Pony (Delacorte/Random House, $22.99 cl., Nov.) is reminiscent of one of Jack London’s tales, with horses instead of dogs, and the Antarctic replacing the Arctic. It’s the story of a wild white pony captured and taken on Robert Falcon Scott’s quest to reach the South Pole. • Q&Q feature reviewer Sarah Ellis has penned a new volume in the decade-old Dear Canada series. That Fatal Night (Scholastic, $14.99 cl., Sept.) explores the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic. • The new book in Dear Canada’s sister series (brother series?), I Am Canada, also spins a suspenseful and educational tale set amid the Titanic tragedy. Hugh Brewster’s Deadly Voyage (Scholastic, $14.99 cl.) publishes in September. • In Timber Wolf (Red Deer Press, $12.95 pa., Oct.), Greener Grass author Caroline Pignat’s new novel about Jack Byrne, logging camp cook Jack finds himself stranded in the woods with only a wolf as company. • A more contemporary boy finds himself similarly stranded in Helaine Becker’s Trouble in the Hills (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, $9.95 pa., Oct.), in which the youngster must dodge kidnappers, drug runners, and a former friend as he tries to make it back to town.

Lobster Press has partnered with Toronto’s Cookie Jar Entertainment for a series of books based on the kids’ show Johnny Test. The first four titles – Get in Shape, Johnny!, Johnny X vs. Bling-Bling Boy, Ready, Set, Go!, and Mission Bora Bora (all $4.95 pa.) – drop in October.

PICTURE BOOKS
Kids love the dainty, dancing Mole Sisters. In September, author-illustrator Roslyn Schwartz brings us their male counterparts in The Vole Brothers (Owlkids, $16.95 cl.), in which the eponymous heroes seek out a feast that will satisfy their enormous appetites. • Author-illustrator Marie-Louise Gay has a knack for creating picture books centred on believable and strong-willed young characters who inhabit a slightly absurd world. Caramba, the only cat in the world who can’t fly (and the star of his own picture book), must contend with an annoying little brother who nearly can in Caramba and Henry (Groundwood, $17.95 cl., Aug.).

Binky the cat has a new foe to contend with when he gets a new spaceship-mate: a cute foster kitten. In Ashley Spires’ Binky Under Pressure (Kids Can, $16.95 cl., $8.95 pa., Sept.), the intrepid space cat knows the kitty isn’t what she seems – and so he must take action! • Pierre Le Poof is in Paris for a dog show, but can’t resist getting out in the city to have a high-flying, mess-making, fur-dirtying adventure. Will he look his best for the show? Find out in Pierre in the Air! (Orca, $19.95 cl., Oct.) by Elliot Moose creator Andrea Beck. • A pet goat helps a young girl defeat a cousin who won’t share her chocolate bar in the allegedly autobiographical My Goat Gertrude (Nimbus Publishing, $18.95 cl., Oct.) by Starr Dobson and illustrator Dayle Dodwell.

A magic meat-grinder – you read that right – grants its new owners three wishes, and ends up teaching them a lesson, in Kishka for Koppel (Orca, $19.95 cl., Oct.) by Aubrey Davis and illustrator Sheldon Cohen. • Little ones often get a lot of their knowledge about the world from older siblings. Some of it is very useful; some of it … well.… Both kinds of information are passed on in Sarah Tsiang and illustrator Qin Leng’s Dogs Don’t Eat Jam, and Other Things Big Kids Know (Annick, $19.95 cl., $8.95 pa., Sept.), in which a young girl schools her little brother on the way things are. • With Dog Breath (Fitz & Whits, $18.95 cl., Nov.), Carolyn Beck and illustrator Brooke Kerrigan have created a touching, humorous portrait of a child’s best four-legged friend.

Barbara Reid’s plasticine artwork is a lively and engaging riposte to digital, standardized picture-book illustration. In her newest book, Picture a Tree (Scholastic, $19.99 cl., Oct.), Reid employs her signature art to celebrate all things arborial. • When You Were Small and Where You Came From, the almost unbearably charming picture books by Montreal’s Sara O’Leary and Vancouver illustrator Julie Morstad, are now  joined by a third, When I Was Small (Simply Read Books, $18.95 cl., Aug.), in which little Henry grows tired of hearing about his own past, and wants his mother to tell him about hers. • Books that encourage young ones to close their eyes are perennial favourites, with Goodnight Moon as the standard-bearer. Calgary illustrator Carolyn Fisher and Rhode Island author Willa Perlman go one better with Good Night, World (Simon & Schuster, $19.99 cl., July), in which everything on the planet, from east to west, is bid so long, farewell, auf weidersehen, goodbye. • Bird Child author Nan Forler explores rural Mennonite culture through poems and recipes in Winterberries and Apple Blossoms: Reflections and Flavors of a Mennonite Year (Tundra, $24.99 cl., Oct.). Peter Etril Snyder illustrates. • “Only connect” is the dictum behind best-selling author and illustrator Peter H. Reynold’s I’m Here (Simon & Schuster, $17.99 cl., Aug.), which is all about how children sometimes struggle to be part of the world around them.

The trend of using beloved songs as the basis for picture books (see, for example, Groundwood’s Canadian Railroad Trilogy by Gordon Lightfoot) continues with The Circle Game (Dancing Cat Books, $20 cl., Sept.). In the book, Joni Mitchell’s lyrics about the stages of a boy’s life are illustrated by Toronto’s Brian Deines • The Jelly Bean Row (Creative Book Publishing; $12.95 pa., Oct.) by author Susan Pynn and illustrator Lizz Pratt tells the “true,” sticky story behind St. John’s, Newfoundland’s famous row of multicoloured houses. • A picked-on cat and a seagull who’s afraid of heights team up in The Adventures of Gus and Isaac (Breakwater Books, $12.95 pa., Oct.), by Debbie Hanlon and illustrated by Grant Boland. • After being saved from certain death by a young prince, a mouse goes on to do exactly what the title of the book suggests in The Mouse Who Saved Egypt (Tradewind Books, $16.95 cl., July) by Vancouver’s Karim Alrawi and illustrator Bee Willey of Suffolk, England. •  Living near the world’s biggest bubblegum factory puts a lot of pressure on young Olivia Bezzlebee to blow a proper bubble in A Very Small Something (Biblioasis, $19.95 cl., Oct.) by P.E.I. poet David Hickey and illustrator Alexander Grigg-Burr.

NON-FICTION
Science has always borrowed from the natural world for its innovations. Biomimicry: Inventions Inspired by Nature (Kids Can, $19.95 cl., Aug.), by Vancouver’s Dora Lee and illustrator Margot Thompson, tells the history of these borrowings, and takes a look at possible future innovations drawn straight from Earth’s R&D lab.

Somali-Canadian performer K’naan, with help from illustrator Rudy Gutierrez, gives the skinny on his ubiquitous hit song/earworm When I Get Older: The Story Behind “Waving Flag” (Tundra, $19.99 cl., Nov.). • Fatty Legs told the story of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton’s experiences in a residential school. In the sequel, A Stranger at Home (Annick, $21.95 cl., $12.95 pa., Sept.), Pokiak-Fenton must try to reintegrate into her own community after returning home. Pokiak-Fenton co-wrote the book with her daughter-in-law, Christy Jordan-Fenton. San Francisco’s
Liz Amini-Holmes illustrates. • Ray Zahab recounts his transformation from disaffected teen to ultra-athelete in Running to Extremes: Ray Zahab’s Amazing Ultramarathon Journey (Puffin Canada, $12.99 cl., Aug.), co-written by Steve Pitt. • Righting Canada’s Wrongs: Japanese Canadian Internment in the Second World War (Formac Lorimer Books, $24.95 cl., Oct.) by Pamela Hickman and Masako Fukawa examines a dark time in Canadian history.

INTERNATIONAL
Martin Scorsese’s film version of The Invention of Hugo Cabret hits theatres in November. How lucky, then, that Cabret author Brian Selznick’s new book should appear just two months earlier. Wonderstruck (Scholastic, $29.99 cl., Sept.) tells two stories – one through words, one through pictures – that run parallel, though they take place 50 years apart. • Beloved illustrator Eric Carle’s new picture book, The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse (Philomel/Penguin, $21 cl., Oct.), which is filled with images of animals coloured “wrong,” might as well come pre-chewed and stained with juice, for all the enthusiastic handling it will get from little ones. • Inheritance (Knopf Books for Young Readers, $27.99 cl., Nov.) is the fourth and final book in Christopher Paolini’s mega-selling series about dragons and the kids who ride them. • Providing stories to accompany the intriguing-yet-inexplicable images and characters found in Chris Van Allsburg’s famous and notoriously story-free 1984 picture book, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, seems almost sacrilegious. However, the fact that The Chronicles of Harris Burdick (Houghton Mifflin/Thomas Allen & Son, $29.95 cl., Oct.) has such talents aboard as Sherman Alexie, Cory Doctorow, Stephen King, and Jules Feiffer makes it both unnecessary and an absolute must-have. • The Man in the Moon (Simon & Schuster, $19.99 cl., Sept.) is the first book in William Joyce’s Guardians of Childhood series, which offers origin stories for icons like Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the eponymous moon man.

The fine print: Q&Q’s fall preview covers books published between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2011. All information (titles, prices, publication dates, etc.) was supplied by publishers and may have been tentative at Q&Q’s press time. • Titles that have appeared in previous previews do not appear here.

In the September 2011 issue of Q&Q: Guy Vanderhaeghe completes his iconic Western trilogy

Q&Q speaks to Governor General’s Literary Award–winning Saskatoon author Guy Vanderhaeghe about the final book in his Western trilogy, the ambitious A Good Man.

Also in September, rekindling interest in history with high-profile political biographies, a look at independent U.S. bookstore e-book sales, and touring the country with Doug Gibson. Plus reviews of new books by Brian Francis, David Gilmour, Marina Endicott, and more.

FEATURES
A good guy
After nearly two decades, Guy Vanderhaeghe has completed his iconic Western trilogy – and now he’s ready to move on

Raising the dead white men
Can a handful of high-profile political biographies rekindle interest in Canadian history?

E-reading’s awkward embrace
If the experience of U.S. indies is anything to go by, Canadian booksellers gearing up to begin selling e-books should expect some bumps along the road

FRONTMATTER
Orphaned Key Porter authors take back control of their work
How digital technology has put audiobooks within reach of small presses
In memoriam: Robert Kroetsch
Montreal violin-maker Tom Wilder turns publisher
Snapshot: Knopf Random Canada executive vice-president and publisher Louise Dennys
Cover to cover: R.T. Naylor’s Crass Struggle
Touring the country with Doug Gibson
Guest opinion: Rolf Maurer on rethinking the role of the arts

REVIEWS
Natural Order by Brian Francis
The Perfect Order of Things by David Gilmour
The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott
Our Daily Bread by Lauren B. Davis
Eating Dirt by Charlotte Gill

PLUS more fiction, non-fiction, and poetry

BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Starfall by Diana Kolpak; Kathleen Finlay, photog.
No Ordinary Day by Deborah Ellis
First Descent by Pam Withers
The Busy Beaver by Nicholas Oldland
Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston

PLUS more fiction, non-fiction, and picture books

Q&Q/BOOKNET CANADA BESTSELLERS

THE LAST WORD
Greenpeace International’s Tzeporah Berman on finding a balance between her own voice and that of the organization she represents

Subscribe to Quill & Quire
Get the digital edition

In the July/August issue of Q&Q: 2011 fall preview

The busy season for publishers has no shortage of big new releases, with novels from Ondaatje, Vanderhaeghe, and Endicott, the Massey Lectures from Adam Gopnik, and kids’ books from Kenneth Oppel and Kit Pearson. In the July/August 2011 issue, Q&Q takes a look at the fall season’s top titles.

Also in this issue, QR-code marketing, novelist Esi Edugyan’s sophomore blues, and publishers’ reactions to Indigo’s new co-op program. Plus reviews of new books by Lynn Coady, Nicole Lundrigan, Cary Fagan, and more.

FEATURES
Fall preview
A sneak peek at the season’s top fiction, non-fiction, children’s, and international titles

The CBA’s balancing act
The Canadian Booksellers Association looks to new digital partnerships – and old-school member outreach – to regain its place as the united voice of booksellers

After the collapse
Canadian book distributors remain optimistic following the bankruptcy of H.B. Fenn and Company

FRONTMATTER
Esi Edugyan finds an unlikely inspiration for her sophomore novel, Half-Blood Blues
Winnipeg’s Aqua Books revinvents itself as a popular community hangout
Joshua Knelman’s art-theft investigation landed him a book deal
Best short stories: Michael Christie on David Bezmozgis’s “Tapka”
Indigo’s new co-op program faces mixed publisher reaction
Is QR-code marketing just a fad, or can it sell books?
Cover to cover: Caitlin Sweet’s The Pattern Scars
Snapshot: eBound Canada CEO Robert Hayashi

REVIEWS
The Water Man’s Daughter by Emma Ruby-Sachs
Alone in the Classroom by Elizabeth Hay
Glass Boys by Nicole Lundrigan
The Antagonist by Lynn Coady
How Shakespeare Changed Everything by Stephen Marche
PLUS more fiction, non-fiction, and poetry

BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Dear Baobab by Cheryl Foggo; Qin Leng, illus.
Nini by François Thisdale
The Summer of Permanent Wants by Jamieson Findlay
Testify by Valerie Sherrard
Born Ugly by Beth Goobie
Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier
PLUS more fiction, non-fiction, and picture books

THE Q&Q/BOOKNET CANADA BESTSELLERS

THE LAST WORD
Authors who borrow from historical events face real ethical issues, writes novelist D.J. McIntosh

Subscribe to Quill & Quire
Get the digital edition

In the April 2011 issue of Q&Q: Susan Musgrave talks to Lorna Crozier

It’s been more than a decade since the iconic – and iconoclastic – Susan Musgrave published a new collection of poetry. In the April 2011 issue of Q&Q, Musgrave discusses her new collection, Origami Dove (McClelland & Stewart), with fellow B.C. poet Lorna Crozier, whose collection Small Mechanics also appears this spring with M&S. Also in April, a profile of overlooked short story author Clark Blaise, a special report on B.C. publishing, and a feature on the financial struggles facing Canadian literary journals. Plus reviews of new books by Julie Booker, John Furlong, Joe Ollmann, Chester Brown, Nicola Winstanley, Elisa Amado, Mélanie Watt, and more.

FEATURES

On poetry and prose
Two of B.C.’s leading poets – Susan Musgrave and Lorna Crozier – discuss writing, self-doubt, and Al Purdy’s birthday cake

Special report on B.C. publishing
Industry newcomer Randal Macnair brings new life to Oolichan Books; B.C. BookWorld’s Alan Twigg on surviving lean times; New Society carves out a distinctive niche in D&M’s growing eco-book empire; B.C. booksellers find solidarity at this year’s provincial book fair

Rough cuts
A year after the Department of Canadian Heritage slashed funding for small-run periodicals, many venerable literary magazines are struggling to adapt

FRONTMATTER
Clark Blaise’s return to form
An insider’s take on the collapse of H.B. Fenn and Company
Snapshot: Books for Business CEO Sean Neville
Best short stories: Alexander MacLeod on Alice Munro
Cover to cover: Gil Adamson’s Ashland
Guest opinion: Carmine Starnino on rebooting the CanLit canon
Kirstie McLellan Day’s hockey-book hat trick

REVIEWS
Up Up Up by Julie Booker
Patriot Hearts: Inside the Olympics That Changed a Country by John Furlong with Gary Mason
Mid-Life by Joe Ollmann
Paying for It by Chester Brown
Touch by Alexi Zentner
Esther: The Remarkable True Story of Esther Wheelwright, Puritan Child, Native Daughter, Mother Superior by Julie Wheelwright
Underground by Anatanas Sileika
PLUS more fiction, non-fiction, and poetry

BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
Cinnamon Boy by Nicola Winstanley; Janice Nadeau, illus.
What Are You Doing? by Elisa Amado; Manuel Monroy, illus.
You’re Finally Here! by Mélanie Watt
Banjo of Destiny by Cary Fagan
PLUS more fiction, non-fiction, and picture books

THE Q&Q/BOOKNET CANADA BESTSELLERS

THE LAST WORD
Cynthia Holz on a writer’s search for inspiration between novels

Subscribe to Quill & Quire
Get the digital edition

Bookmarks: Apple Tablet rumours, books banned on airplanes, and more

A few bookish links from across the Web:

• The rumoured Apple Tablet comes closer to reality: the new product, potentially called “iSlate,” is expected to be unveiled on Jan. 26 in San Francisco
• Danger! Apparently, books and magazines pose a security threat to airplanes. They have been banned as carry-ons by Transport Canada until further notice
• Hobbit-lovers, mount your high horses: The Guardian’s Andrew Brown turns his blog into “a place to discuss the literary demerits of Lord of the Rings”
• The Onion on adults who get slightly overexcited by children’s picture books, including the gem Green Man, Blue Cat
• Katherine Paterson, author of The Bridge to Terabithia, has been named the national ambassador for young people’s literature in the U.S.

September Q&Q: Dany Laferrière and more in the spotlight on Quebec publishing

The cover star of the September issue of Q&Q is the Haitian-born, Montreal-based author Dany Laferrière, who came to national attention in the 1980s with his first novel, How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired, and is set to make a comeback in English-Canada with his latest novel. Also in the issue, Q&Q looks at a Quebec City publishing house that is bringing English-Canadian writing to French readers, and at the Montreal micro-publisher Conundrum Press, which evolved from being a quirky literary house to a quirky publisher of graphic novels. All that plus Fall Announcements, listing every fall adult title, and reviews of Linwood Barclay’s Fear the Worst, Douglas Coupland’s Generation A, Shinan Govani’s Boldface Names, and Arthur Slade’s The Hunchback Assignments.

Returning North

Globe-trotting novelist Dany Laferrière is a big-time celebrity in Quebec. Now, after a decade-long hiatus, he’s being published again in English

Exposing family secrets

Six authors on navigating the personal minefield of memoir writing

The English invasion

An upstart Quebec City house is discovering a surprising demand in its home province for English-Canadian writing. And more in the spotlight on Quebec publishing: The evolution of Conundrum Press, and the dying art of literary translation

Fall Announcements

The season’s complete listings

FRONTMATTER

Bonnie Burnard is back in the spotlight

Don LePan among the Animals

Snapshot: BookNet Canada’s new CEO Noah Genner

Cover to Cover: Lavie Tidhar and Nir Yaniv’s The Tel Aviv Dossier

The e-catalogue cometh

Harry Bruce on the Hugh MacLennan novel that almost never was

Local Buzz: Back to the Beach

GUEST OPINION

Canada’s beleaguered litmags must experiment online to stay relevant, argues Jason McBride

REVIEWS

Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro

Galore by Michael Crummey

The Fallen by Stephen Finucan

Animal by Alexandra Leggat

Plus more fiction, non-fiction, and poetry

BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

Violet by Tania Stehlik and Vanja Vuleta Jovanovic

The Winter Drey by Sean Dixon

The Hunchback Assignments by Arthur Slade

Plus more fiction, non-fiction, and picture books

THE LAST WORD

The ups and downs of Amazon’s sales rankings can drive authors to distraction, writes Linwood Barclay

Jeremy Tankard in the L.A. Times

Grumpy Bird author/illustrator Jeremy Tankard recently chatted with Sonja Bolle of the Los Angeles Times. Here are some highlights:

SB: Is Grumpy Bird based on anyone in your life?

JT: I’d probably be in trouble if I answered that honestly.

[...]

SB: What kind of a reader are you?

JT: The irony was that [as a kid] I was not a big reader at all. There were a million things I’d rather do than read a book. I still love being read to, but it wasn’t until I was 30 or 31 that I started to enjoy reading. [He's 36 now.]

[...]

SB: What are you working on now?

JT: Possibly an illustrated novel, maybe a chapter book taking advantage of my love of comic books. My editor at Scholastic did The Invention of Hugo Cabret with Brian Selznick, so she’s open to doing something unusual. I’ve got a story mostly written.

The great thing is that what I thought would be a hobby to supplement my work turns out to be a viable career.

Tankard also lays out the genesis of the Grumpy Bird character and series, something he talked about in Q&Q‘s Jan/Feb cover story on children’s illustrators.

Richard Poplak and more in the May Q&Q

Jet-setting author Richard Poplak travelled to 17 different countries to research his latest book, which looks at the influence of American pop culture in the Muslim world, and he’s Q&Q’s cover subject in the May 2009 issue. Also in the issue, we look at the surprising success of Harlequin Enterprises at 60 and at how print-on-demand is changing the bookstore of the future. Our Library Special Report examines the tricky task of putting Canada’s archival history online. Plus reviews of new books by Colin McAdam, Emily Schultz, Giles Blunt, Lynn Johnston, Barry Callaghan, and more.

Pop goes the world
Richard Poplak bets that tawdry TV and banal bubblegum can bring cultures together

Print-on-demand: The dream and the reality
The bookstore of the future, and why POD machines are waiting for books in the present

Love wins out
While other major publishers are bleeding money, Harlequin Enterprises is raking it in. How the firm has managed to beat the odds

History, bit by bit
What’s the best way to put our national heritage online?
AND MORE IN THE LIBRARY SPECIAL REPORT: Coping with rising patron demand, and learning to LOL at the reference desk

FRONTMATTER

• Ninety minutes with Stuart Ross
• Comedy is easy, kidlit is hard
• The adventures of Pierre Turgeon: a timeline
• Cover to Cover: Lauren Kirshner’s Where We Have to Go
• Snapshot: Alexandra Moore of Word on the Street
• Breakwater unbroken
• David Bezmozgis moves from control to collaboration

REVIEWS

• Heaven Is Small by Emily Schultz
• Though You Were Dead by Terry Griggs
• The English Stories by Cynthia Flood
• Plus more fiction, non-fiction, and poetry

BOOKS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE

• Dance Baby Dance by Andrea Spalding
• Dracula Madness by Mary Labatt and Jo Rioux
• Soccer Sabotage by Liam O’Donnell and Mike Deas
• Swim the Fly by Don Calame
• Plus more fiction, non-fiction, and picture books

THE Q&Q/BOOKNET CANADA BESTSELLERS

THE LAST WORD
Lesley Choyce does the math on three decades in writing

Anne Michaels and more in the April Q&Q

Thirteen years after the blockbuster success of Fugitive Pieces, Anne Michaels is about to publish her second novel, and she’s Q&Q‘s cover subject in the April 2009 issue, which is available now. Also in April, we look at the some of the ideas for industry networking and sales-generating that have sprung up in the wake of BookExpo Canada’s collapse, and at the Literary Press Group‘s future plans now that new executive director Jack Illingworth is on board. Plus reviews of new books by David Suzuki, Kim Echlin, Trevor Herriot, Robert J. Sawyer, Vlasta van Kampen, Tim Wynne-Jones, and more. The full table of contents is after the jump.
(more…)