Top Fives Simon & Schuster Fall 2017

On May 19 Simon and Schuster hosted their Fall 2017 Librarian and Educator preview to present upcoming titles from their imprints. You can find my Top Fives below and check out #SSKidsPreview and @SSEdLib on Twitter for even more.

Picture Books:

1. The Antlered Ship by Dashka Slater, illustrated by Terry Fan and Eric Fan: An adventurous fox embarks on a seafaring adventure in this beautifully illustrated tale. Coming September 12, 2017.
2. Bamboo for You, Bamboo for Me by Fran Manushkin, illustrated by Purification Hernandez: Twin. Pandas. Rhyming. Text. Coming November 7, 2017
3. Night Out with Mama by Quvenzhane Wallis, illustrated by Vanessa Brantley-Newton: The Academy Award nominated actress turns her hand to picture books in this story about a little girl preparing for a night out with her mother. October 3, 2017.
4. Pocket Full of Colors by Jacqueline Tourville and Amy Guglielmo, illustrated by Brigette Barrage: This picture book biography tells the story of Mary Blair during her time at Disney. Blair’s career from her work on animated films including Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella to her work designing Disney’s It’s a Small World ride is framed in terms of colors throughout the story. Coming August 29, 2017.
5. How the Cookie Crumbled by Gilbert Ford: This non-fiction picture book features three versions of the invention of the chocolate chip cookie. You’ll have to read the entire book to decide which is true. Recipe included. October 24, 2017.

Middle Grade:

1. The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street by Lindsay Currie: In this mystery a girl has to piece together a centuries-old mystery when her family moves into a haunted house and her little brother’s doll begins crying actual tears. Coming October 10, 2017.
2. Forest World by Margarita Engle: In her first contemporary verse novel Engle follows a Cuban-American boy during his first visit to his family’s village in Cuba where he meets a sister he never knew about and takes on poachers in the nearby forest. Coming August 29, 2017.
3. The Player King by Avi: Truth is stranger than fiction in this rags to riches and back to rags story of the boy who was pulled from obscurity to dethrone the King of England. Coming October 29, 2017.
4. Super Max and the Mystery of Thornwood’s Revenge by Susan Vaught: Twelve-year-old Max will need more than her knack for electronics and her super-charged wheelchair to solve the mystery surrounding a haunted mansion. Coming August 29, 2017.
5. Littler Women by Laura Schaefer: A modern retelling of Little Women that is meant to be timeless. This book focuses on the first half of Alcott’s original story. Coming September 5, 2017.

Young Adult:

1. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds: This book takes place over the course of sixty seconds as a boy rides in the elevator preparing to kill the gang member who shot his brother. Coming October 17, 2017.
2. Starfish by Akemi Dawn Bowman: This debut strikes a balance between literary and commercial as Kiko struggles to figure what happens when she’s rejected from her dream art school. Coming September 26, 2017.
3. The Victoria in my Head by Janelle Milanes: Victoria Cruz is a rule following scholarship student at her fancy Manhattan prep school. Then she joins a rock band. Coming September 19, 2017.
4. Bad Girls with Perfect Faces by Lynn Weingarten: Sasha’s life gets out of hand when she tries to catfish her best friend’s horrible new girlfriend. Coming October 31, 2017.
5. The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed: This powerful novel takes apart the virgin/whore dichotomy at the core of rape culture in this story when three outsiders band together to avenge the rape of a fellow classmate. Coming October 10, 2017.