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havoc as her fairy tale counterpart (Baby’s
chair, made of delicate bones, is reduced to
dust). Instead of exhibiting fury, the family
that discovers her welcomes her with open
arms: “HOW DARE YOU... eat without
us!” a joyful Papa cries. “I’ve always wanted
another mouth to feed.” It’s a horror spoof
with a big heart: Lorenzo’s acrylic and
colored pencil cartooning offers a warm
glow, and readers will cheer for this undead
family that finally feels complete. Ages 4–8.
(Aug.)The Great Pumpkin Contest
Angie Rozelaar. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99
(40p) ISBN 978-0-06-274137-0
Camaraderie eclipses rivalry in this
mellow autumn tale that introduces “two
cats as different as could be.” Mimi spends
her time indoors, reading and sometimes
wishing she had a friend; Clara prefers
being outside, tending her garden, and
hosting tea parties with her pals. Yet
when Cat County’s Great Pumpkin
Contest rolls around, these neighbors
share a common goal: to win a blue ribbon.
Rozelaar conveys each feline’s personality
through her gardening approach: after
Mimi reads up on pumpkin growing and
methodically plants seeds, her garden
yields a gigantic specimen, while Clara
cheerfully sprinkles seeds willy-nilly
around her yard, growing a bountiful crop
of “beautiful little pumpkins.” After an
accident renders one pumpkin into mush,
both characters emerge as equally win-
ning in Rozelaar’s winsome mixed-media
pictures, which sweetly portray the blos-
soming of a friendship. Ages 4–8. (July)How I Met My Monster
Amanda Noll, illus. by Howard McWilliam.
Flashlight, $17.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-947277-09-0
In this peppy prequel to I Need My
Monster and Hey, That’s MY Monster!, Noll
and McWilliam reveal how Ethan, a child,
chose Gabe as his personal monster when
he was younger. Three other vividly hued
monsters compete for the job, under the
direction of their teacher, Mr. Zee, but only
Gabe, with his neon-green fur, spiked tail,
and bulbous vermillion eyes, has the
aptitude for scaring Ethan into bed—and
keeping him there. Gabe, whose size
increases exponentially after he snacks on
some of the boy’s crackers, clinches the role
thanks to some secret weapons: the lime-green drool that oozes out from his resting
spot under the bed as well as his snorts
and gentle threats (“Got any toes I can
munch?”), which simultaneously give the
boy shivers and lull him to sleep. Like the
text, McWilliam’s brassy digital acrylics
are more silly than scary, with the charac-
ters’ wildly exaggerated facial expressions
amplifying the comedy. Ages 5–7. (Nov.)Oscar Seeks a Friend
Paweł Pawlak, trans. from the Polish by
Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Lantana, $17.99 (40p)
ISBN 978-1-911373-79-7
Oscar the skeleton is missing a tooth, and
he’s cruelly self-conscious about his looks
and prospects (“It’s hard for a small, ugly
skeleton to make friends”). A pigtail-
wearing human girl who’s burying a tooth
to help her dream come true offers it to
Oscar if he’ll help her find a friend. She
shows him the beautiful places in her
world (“She said she’d like to take her friend
to a meadow and show them a rainbow”),
and he reciprocates, bringing her to a
dreamy flower-filled underworld of skele-
tons who ride velocipedes and browse
library shelves. Pawlak’s paper collage
characters fairly jump from the page, with
expressive, engaging eyes and details worth
returning to. Though the girl never indi-
cates that Oscar is the friend she’s wished
for, she promises to return, and Oscar gives
the tooth back, having found that a new
smile wasn’t needed for friendship or self-
worth, after all. Ages 5–8. (Oct.)Hide and Seek
Katie May Green. Candlewick, $16.99 (32p)
ISBN 978-0-7636-9606-1
In a sequel to Seen and Not Heard, the
exquisitely costumed children who live in
the portraits hanging in Shiverhawk Hall,
a British manor house, are “woken gently/
by a midsummer moon.” Discovering that
the solemn twins who occupy one portrait
are missing, the others, along with a small
dog, clamber out of their own paintings to
mount a search. Together, they climb down
the ancient vines that cover the home’s
exterior and scamper into the garden
(“WE’RE COMING TO FIND YOU!”),
accompanied by friendly owls, insects, and
mice. The twins, in their white dresses and
enormous hair ribbons, are visible in many
searching spreads—the boxwood maze,
the fountain, and the wood beyond—butPercy, Lily, and
the three
Plumsey chil-
dren miss them
until giggles
give them away.
The children’s
exquisite period dress suffers from their
nighttime play in the garden, but nothing
truly frightening occurs, making Green’s
twee, gothic-scented tale ideal for readers
who prefer their seasonal fare sans frights.
Ages 5–8. (July) ■PICTURE BOOKS
Life as a Mini Hero Oliver Tallec, trans. from
the French by Claudia Zoe Bedrick. Enchanted
Lion, ISBN 978-1-59270-290-9, Aug.
FICTION
All the Impossible Things Lindsay Lackey.
Roaring Brook, ISBN 978-1-250-20286-4, Sept.
Becoming Beatriz Tami Charles. Charlesbridge
Teen, ISBN 978-1-580-89778-5, Sept.
Bernard Pepperlin Cara Hoffman, illus. by Olga
Demidova. HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-06-286544-1,
Sept.
Guest: A Changeling Tale Mary Downing
Hahn. Clarion, ISBN 978-0-358-06731-3, Sept.
★ The Light in the Lake Sarah R. Baughman.
Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0-316-42242-0, Sept.
Long Summer Nights Aharon Appelfeld, trans.
from the Hebrew by Jeffrey Green, illus. by Vali
Mintzi. Triangle Square, ISBN 978-1-60980-898-3,
Aug.
Scary Stories for Young Foxes Christian
McKay Heidicker, illus. by Junyi Wu. Holt,
ISBN 978-1-250-18142-8, Aug.
★ The Stars and the Blackness Between
Them Junauda Petrus. Dutton, ISBN 978-0-525-
55548-3, Sept.
COMICS
The Okay Witch Emma Steinkellner. Aladdin,
ISBN 978-1-5344-3146-1, Sept.
NONFICTION
Born to Fly: The First Women’s Air Race
Across America Steve Sheinkin, illus. by Bijou
Karman. Roaring Brook, ISBN 978-1-62672-130-2,
Sept.
Obviously: Stories from My Timeline Akilah
Hughes. Razorbill, ISBN 978-1-101-99890-8, Sept.
Soldier for Equality: José de la Luz Sáenz
and the Great War Duncan Tonatiuh. Abrams,
ISBN 978-1-4197-3682-7, Sept.http://www.publishersweekly.comONLINE
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