Established in 1998 by the Cooperative Children’s Book Center (CCBC), the Charlotte Zolotow Award is given annually for outstanding writing in a picture book published in the United States in the preceding year with up to five honor books and up to ten highly commended titles also selected. The award is named to honor the work of Charlotte Zolotow, a distinguished children’s book editor for 38 years, and author of more than 70 picture books.
We would like to congratulate X. Fang whose picture book, We Are Definitely Human, has been selected as a 2025 Highly Commended Title.
We Are Definitely Human By X. Fang 48 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover ISBN 9781774882023 | Tundra Books When three mysterious visitors from “Europe” crash-land in Mr. Li’s field, he does what any good host would: he invites them back to his farmhouse and offers to help fix up their “car”. No, there’s nothing strange about these guests at all. Just like other humans, they “make business”, “play sportsball” and “wear hat”. As the townsfolk also come to the aid of the visitors and the gathering turns into a little party, interplanetary relations reach an all-time high. A sweetly funny extraterrestrial offering that explores surprising acts of kindness and acceptance, X. Fang’s second picture book is truly out of this world.
Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. This title is now available in stores and online!
The Big Splash: Julia on the Go! #2 Written by Angela Ahn Illustrated by Julie Kim 176 Pages | Ages 7-10 | Hardcover ISBN 9781774882078 | Tundra Books Julia is dismayed to learn that Coach Marissa has to leave the Vipers swim team for an urgent family matter. Coach Nathan, their new temporary coach, is strict and humorless. He doesn’t even let them have Splash Time! And it’s not just Julia who’s upset – two of her teammates have even quit the team. So it’s no surprise that the team is not enthusiastic when Coach Nathan asks them to put together a car wash fundraiser for the team. But then they learn that there’s going to be a big increase in pool rental fees, which means the Vipers may lose practice days, or worse, not be able to swim at all. Julia takes the lead and gets the Vipers organized. Along the way, she learns more about her nemesis, teammate Olivia, and even Coach Nathan. Maybe first impressions aren’t always the most accurate.
The Big Splash is also available today in audiobook!
We can’t wait to see you reading this title! If you share this book online, remember to use #ReadTundra in your hashtags so that we can re-post.
The OLA Best Bets committee is comprised of librarians and library technicians who are OLA members, work in public libraries, and are committed to children’s and young adult services and eager to evaluate and promote Canadian books. Members discuss and evaluate recent publications by Canadian authors and illustrators. The books evaluated are suitable for children and young adults from birth to nineteen years old. From these discussions, the Committee produces “Best Bets” lists, annual annotated lists of recommended titles. We’re thrilled to have so many books on the list and we congratulate our authors and illustrators.
Picture Books:
A Garden Called Home Written by Jessica J. Lee Illustrated by Elaine Chen 48 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover ISBN 9781774880470 | Tundra Books Mama was born in a country far away from here. I love her stories about warm rain in winter and green mountains. And now Mama’s taking me there! When a young girl and her mother go to visit her family, the girl notices a change. At home, her mother mostly stays inside. Here, her mother likes to explore and go hiking. The girl has never seen her so happy! Her mother tells her about the trees, bushes, flowers and birds. Did you know that tree roots make mountains strong? And that ài h?o (mugwort) is used to make delicious, sweet dumplings? But her mother’s smile goes away when they return home. It’s cold and she doesn’t want to go outside. She goes back to wearing her big quilted jackets and watering her houseplants. How can the girl show her mother that nature here can be wondrous too?
The Book That Almost Rhymed Written by Omar Abed Illustrated by Hatem Aly 40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover ISBN 9780593406380 | Dial Books What do you do with an interrupting sibling? Especially when she’s stepping all over your story with wild ideas that don’t. Even. Rhyme. Knights riding rockets? Dancing pirates? Who’s ever heard of a fire-breathing armadillo?! But when this big brother realizes his sister just might be improving his yarn – and doing it with an impressive surprise of her own – it’s clear what you do with an interrupting sibling. You share the narrative! Turns out adventure is way more fun when you build it together, rhyme by daring rhyme.
Junior Fiction:
Tig By Heather Smith 160 Pages | Ages 10+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780735267497 | Tundra Books After months of living without electricity or parents, Tig and Peter are forced to move in with their Uncle Scott and his partner, Manny. The transition from down-and-out to picture-perfect isn’t easy, especially in pristine Wensleydale with the idyllic couple and their beautiful home. Tig, with Peter’s support, decides to make their new life messy, starting with daily arguments and her plans to become a competitive cheese racer. She’ll run circles around her new guardians, outrun a wheel of cheese, and leave the past buried in her dust. But things don’t always go as planned, and Tig must decide what to truly leave behind in order to move forward.
The Curse of Eelgrass Bog By Mary Averling 272 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback ISBN 9780593624920 | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR Nothing about Kess Pedrock’s life is normal. Not her home (she lives in her family’s Unnatural History Museum), not her interests (hunting for megafauna fossils and skeletons), and not her best friend (a talking demon’s head in a jar named Shrunken Jim). But things get even stranger than usual when Kess meets Lilou Starling, the new girl in town. Lilou comes to Kess for help breaking a mysterious curse – and the only clue she has leads straight into the center of Eelgrass Bog. Everyone knows the bog is full of witches, demons, and possibly worse, but Kess and Lilou are determined not to let that stop them. As they investigate the mystery and uncover long-buried secrets, Kess begins to realize that the curse might hit closer to home than she’d ever expected, and she’ll have to summon all her courage to find a way to break it before it’s too late.
The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents By Nicki Pau Preto 352 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Hardcover ISBN 9780593528518 | Viking BFYR Lavinia “Vin” Lucas is out of control and out of options. Stranded by parents who would rather use their average magical abilities to study dung beetles than raise her, Vin’s been on her own for years. But she’s never been able to corral her own powerful, unpredictable magic. After years of detention, suspension, and expulsion from magic schools far and wide, she’s now being sent to the Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents. If she gets expelled, it’s the end of the line. Now, Vin is determined to behave. Except no one at Last Hope seems to want her to. Her new teachers – particularly the school’s kind headmistress – push her to explore her magic, and her mischievous classmates delight in every accident. And all the while, a mysterious fire sprite, a suspicious instructor, and her overwhelming abilities might just sabotage Vin. But for the first time, she is not alone. So when a former student begins attacking the school, Vin must question just how much she knows about the headmistress and her new home. Is this place worth saving? And are her budding abilities – and every trick, trap, and deception in her friends’ delinquent arsenal – enough to protect Last Hope?
Viewfinder By Christine D.U. Chung and Salwa Majoka 144 Pages | Ages 6-9 | Hardcover ISBN 9780735268753 | Tundra Books A young space traveler visits Earth on a whim and finds a planet empty of people. She happens upon a strange contraption that contains images of what the planet used to be like, and using this viewfinder, she sees Earth as it was, juxtaposed against Earth as it is: abandoned, but still full of amazing things. Her adventure takes her to a museum full of hints about the planet’s past and the strange glowing mushrooms that grow everywhere, a library that has become home to a variety of zoo animals, and a beautiful but crumbling space station from which she makes a daring escape. As she wanders, though, she sees signs that perhaps there is still someone here. A time capsule, a friendly cat and a makeshift railcar all add to the mystery . . . is she really alone? The lush and captivating art and subtle nod to stewardship in this wordless graphic novel will draw readers in and leave them with a renewed sense of wonder for the resilient and extraordinary place we call home.
Young Adult Fiction:
Fledgling By S. K. Ali 544 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780593531242 | Kokila Would you trade love for peace? Raisa of Upper Earth has only lived a life of privilege and acquiescence. Ever dutiful, she accepts her father’s arrangement of her marriage to Lein, Crown Prince of the corrupt, volatile lands of Lower Earth. Though Lein is a stranger, Raisa knows the wedding will unite their vastly different worlds in a pact of peace: an infusion of Upper Earth technology will usher in the final age of enlightenment, ending war between humans forever. Or is justice more urgent? Newly released from imprisonment, Nada of Lower Earth has found her own calling: disrupting the royal wedding. Convinced her cousin Lein’s alliance with Upper Earth will launch an invasive, terrifying form of tyranny, Nada sets out undercover to light the spark of revolution. When Raisa goes missing a week before the wedding, all eyes turn to the rebels, including Nayf, Nada’s twin brother, a fugitive on the run. In Nayf and Raisa meeting, the long-simmering animosity between their worlds slowly burns away into something unexpected. But the Crown Prince wants his bride – and future – back. And he will go to the ends of the earths to reclaim them.
Lockjaw By Matteo L. Cerilli 328 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover ISBN 9781774882306 | Tundra Books Chuck Warren died tragically at the old abandoned mill, but Paz Espino knows it was no accident – there’s a monster under the town, and she’s determined to kill it before anyone else gets hurt. She’ll need the help of her crew – inseparable friends, bound by a childhood pact stronger than diamonds, distance or death – to hunt it down. But she’s up against a greater force of evil than she ever could have imagined. With shifting timeframes and multiple perspectives, Lockjaw is a small-town ghost story, where monsters living and dead haunt the streets, the homes and the minds of the inhabitants. For readers of Wilder Girls and The Haunted, this trans YA horror book by an incredible debut author will grab you and never let you go.
Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. This title is now available in stores and online!
New in Paperback:
The Puffin Keeper Written by Michael Morpurgo Illustrated by Benji Davies 112 Pages | Ages 9-12 | Paperback ISBN 9781774884249 | Puffin Canada As a child, Allen is saved from a nautical disaster by Benjamin Postlethwaite, a solitary lighthouse keeper. Years later, Allen returns to the lighthouse, and the two nurse an injured young puffin back to health. When Allen is called up to fight in World War Two, he’s not sure he’ll see his mother or Benjamin again, but his fond memories of his time at the lighthouse keep him going, even through prison camp. Allen and Ben’s enduring friendship over the years is the basis for this story about friendship, art, war and an incredibly adorable puffin. From masterful storyteller Michael Morpurgo and world-class illustrator Benji Davies comes this truly beautiful tale which will enchant readers of all ages.
We can’t wait to see you reading this title! If you share this book online, remember to use #ReadTundra in your hashtags so that we can re-post.
Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. This title is now available in stores and online!
Fantastic Lou By Qin Leng 96 Pages | Ages 5-9 | Hardcover ISBN 9781774885673 | Tundra Books Meet Lou. Lou is many things: clever, creative, competitive, thoughtful, funny . . . and, most of all, FANTASTIC! He meets life’s ups and downs with courage, curiosity and a plucky openheartedness. He enjoys his own thoughts and solo company but is always ready to dance, wrestle, wriggle, somersault and karate chop his way into his parents’ day (or night). With the sweetest touch and most expressive lines, Qin Leng perfectly captures the emotional essence of young childhood, while offering a celebration of imaginative play and fantasy worlds. From his bedtime antics and rock ‘n’ roll moves, to his bathtub heroics and toilet musings, Lou will utterly charm readers of all ages.
We can’t wait to see you reading this title! If you share this book online, remember to use #ReadTundra in your hashtags so that we can re-post.
