Kari Percival

Oct 3, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Thomas Harding |Kari Percival |Dani Díaz |Joy McCullough

Kim Bussing. Random House, $17.99 (304p) ISBN 978-0-593-70803-3Instead of waking up in the cellar of her deceased royal librarian father’s home, 12-year-old Ella, who has a glass leg, finds herself in the home of a traveling merchant fallen on hard times. Out of kindness, she takes his place in meeting Neesa, the mysterious beast of the woods. Now imprisoned in Neesa’s magical castle, Ella must help her break her beastly curse before time runs out.

Oct 3, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Thomas Harding |Kari Percival |Dani Díaz |Joy McCullough

Thomas Harding, illus. by Britta Teckentrup. Candlewick Studio, $19.99 (56p) ISBN 978-1-5362-4070-2Today, the tall narrow house on an Amsterdam canal is known worldwide as both a museum honoring the life of Anne Frank (1929–1945) and the Frank family’s hiding place. But as previous collaborators Harding and Teckentrup (The House by the Lake) convey, the house is also part of a “remarkable history” that spans four centuries and myriad reasons for seeking shelter.

Oct 3, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Gordon Korman |Thomas Harding |Kari Percival |Dani Díaz

In classic Korman (Slugfest) fashion, an otherwise ordinary school is thrown into upheaval by the arrival of an unexpectedly chaotic element in this endearing story. With his parents constantly moving for work, white-cued 12-year-old Dexter Foreman lives with his grandmother in the Pines retirement community. Then the county catches on to his unofficial homeschooling by his elderly neighbors and decrees that he attend public school.

Oct 3, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Thomas Harding |Kari Percival |Dani Díaz |Joy McCullough

Keenan Jones, illus. by Ken Daley. Beach Lane, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-665-94080-1In his bustling picture book debut, Jones pays nuanced homage to barbershops through the eyes of one child “geeked to go spend/ the day at the ’Shop.” On a Saturday morning, the title’s young narrator, a Black child wearing a ball cap, is dropped off as Mom heads to work. The protagonist, who always arrives first after the barbers, soaks up the lively atmosphere.

Oct 3, 2024 | publishersweekly.com | Joy McCullough |Thomas Harding |Kari Percival |Dani Díaz

Sixteen-year-old Carmela Tofana has waited her entire life to become an apprentice in her mother’s apothecary shop in Rome. Alongside gruff but loving Maria and quiet Laura, Carmela is eager to learn the shop’s secrets as well as prove to the town that her mother and coworkers are not witches.