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Creator Spotlight: Julie Kim

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our creators as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Julie Kim!

About the Author:

JULIE KIM is an author and illustrator living in Seattle, USA. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, her illustrations have been featured in several children’s books, including My Special Space and Mysterious Spinners. Her authorial debut, Where’s Halmoni?, has received several starred reviews. Its sequel Where’s Joon? was published in October 2023.

Fast Five with Julie Kim:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

If I could live anywhere . . . I would still live in Seattle! I love the mild climate here, despite the cloudy skies. Hot and humid places basically turn me into mush. And I love seeing the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade range as I drive around the city. I especially love how green and lush everything is in spring and summer. Nature can still feel wild here in the Pacific Northwest.

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

I love to sit at my table next to a bright window and sip on spicy chai! And with every sip I go “Hahhhh!” to cool my mouth. I do this until I run out of chai. What a treat!

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

My favorite meal of the day is brunch! It doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with what I eat, but it is more about the time of the day. Everything still feels fresh and bright, while by evening, I am tired and trying to wrap up the day. 

What’s your “dance like nobody’s watching” song?

Though I don’t have a particular song that comes to mind, I will dance to “techno” music. Does anyone know what that is nowadays? Anyway, sometimes I don’t even need music to dance. I just need to move out of my chair.

What’s your favorite thing to draw?

For the longest time, I loved drawing people the best. Now I really enjoy drawing and painting crooked trees. Something about them is very satisfying. And though you didn’t ask, my least favorite thing to draw are cars and trucks. It’s very painful!

Books by Julie Kim:

Swimming into Trouble: Julia on the Go! #1
Written by Angela Ahn
Illustrated by Julie Kim
176 Pages | Ages 7-10 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774881880 | Tundra Books
As a member of the Vipers Swim Team, Julia Nam’s always in the pool. Mountainview Community Center is like her second home, not only because swimming at the aquatic center is her favorite thing in the world, but also because her parents run the center’s sushi café. Julia would much rather be in the pool than sitting behind the counter of Sushi on the Go! watching other people swim. She’s the youngest swimmer on the team, but definitely not the slowest. Julia can’t wait for Personal Best Day – the most important day for all of the swimmers. If their times are good enough, they can enter a big regional swim meet. But then the worst thing happens. A sharp pain in Julia’s ear reveals an infection and she’s forbidden to swim for ten days. How can she get timed during Personal Best Day when she’s not allowed in the water? Julia is desperate to get back in the pool, even if it means having to go behind her parents’ backs in order to do so. But Julia’s solution lands her in a sticky situation, and it’s going to require the entire community center to come together to help her out of it!

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
Release Date: February 11, 2025
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.

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Creator Spotlight: Antonio Michael Downing

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our authors as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Antonio Michael Downing!

About the Author:

ANTONIO MICHAEL DOWNING grew up in southern Trinidad, northern Ontario, Scarborough, and Kitchener. He is an author, musician, and public speaker based in Toronto. His 2010 novella, Molasses (Blaurock Press), was published to critical acclaim. In 2017, he was named by the RBC Taylor Prize as one of Canada’s top Emerging Authors for non-fiction. He composes and performs music as John Orpheus.

Fast Five with Antonio Michael Downing:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

A house on a hill on the beach by the Caribbean Sea. 

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

Singing a song and playing my guitar – it cures everything! 

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

For breakfast – Trinidadian doubles. Lunch – A mango smoothie. Dinner – Roast chicken and fingerling potatoes.

What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?

Ha! I’ve seen a LOT of concerts so this is HAAARD. I’ll say Sade at the ACC.

How do you deal with your big feelings?

I meditate, read, journal and run every morning which helps me to see them coming when they hit I text my friends and we laugh and laugh and laugh.

Books by Antonio Michael:

Stars in My Crown
Written by Antonio Michael Downing
Illustrated by Richy Sánchez Ayala
48 Pages | Ages 4-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735271128 | Tundra Books
Little Tony is full of love for his grandmother, his home in Trinidad and delicious pholourie. But he’s also full of other big feelings, including anger. His grandmother tries to teach him to be patient – patience is a star in his crown, she says – but it’s hard. He tries to keep his anger in, but when he loses at ping-pong to his brother or he has to come in from playing . . . Yaaarrgh! When Little Tony and his brother move away from their beloved Trinidad, there’s even more for him to be upset about. His new home is cold, full of new people, and there’s no pholourie anywhere! Yaaarrgh! But then he remembers his grandmother’s lessons, and a surprising thing happens . . . A charming and heartwarming story based on the author’s own childhood, Stars In My Crown is an ode to big feelings but even bigger triumphs.

Saga Boy
By Antonio Michael Downing
352 Pages | Paperback
ISBN 9780735237322 | Penguin Canada
Raised by his indomitable grandmother in the lush rainforest of southern Trinidad, Antonio Michael Downing, at age 11, is uprooted to Canada when she dies. He and his older brother are sent to live with his stern, evangelical Aunt Joan, in a tiny northern Ontario community where they are the only Black children in the town. In this wilderness, after a disappointing reunion with his birth parents, he begins his journey as an immigrant minority, using music and performance to dramatically transform himself. He tries to flee his messy family life by morphing into a series of extravagant musical personalities: “Mic Dainjah,” a punk rock rapper, “Molasses,” a soul music crooner and finally “John Orpheus,” a gold chained, sequin- and leather-clad pop star. Yet, like his father and grandfather, he has become a “Saga Boy,” a Trinidadian playboy, addicted to escapism, attention, and sex. When the inevitable crash happens, he finds himself in a cold, stone jail cell, having become everything he was trying to escape. At the heart of his odyssey is the longing for a home. Richly evocative, Saga Boy is a heart-wrenching but uplifting story of a lonely immigrant boy who overcomes adversity and abandonment to reclaim his Black identity and embrace a rich heritage.

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Creator Spotlight: Irma Kniivila

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our creators as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Irma Kniivila!

About the Author:

IRMA KNIIVILA is an artist and writer. Most days she’s working on comics or illustrations, sneaking in an animal any chance she gets. She has done illustrations for DC Comics, Marvel Comics, Reader’s Digest, Paper Bag Records, Virgin Mobile and others. She also created the books Year of the Dog and The Crosswind Café. Irma lives in San Miguel, Mexico, with her partner, two cats, and a dog.

Fast Five with Irma Kniivila:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

More than anything I’d love to live in a new place for a few months every year!

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

A good puppy cuddle, or a nice coffee.

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

I could live off lunch foods forever – soups, sandwiches, salads . . . what more is there in life?

What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?

Maybe an LCD Soundsystem concert where sweat was rising and pouring off the ceiling? I also love the symphony and was very lucky to see the pianist Marc-André Hamelin from the second row some years back. Something about an orchestra tuning can already move me to tears, a big and shared sonic experience.

What do you look for in a friendship?

Some mysterious combo of humility and humor.

Books by Irma Kniivila:

Buns Gone Bad: Fluffle Bunnies #1
Written by Anna Humphrey
Illustrated by Irma Kniivila
176 Pages | Ages 6-9 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774881262 | Tundra Books
This story starts, as stories often do, with a tragedy. Three bunnies are left without their mother when she goes off to Brazil to learn jiujitsu. The bunnies, Flop, Biggie and Boingie, learn some hard truths about life pretty quick: squirrels will take over your cozy nest as soon as you leave and refuse to give it back, dogs are to be avoided at all costs and raccoons will believe anything you tell them. With quick thinking, ingenuity and maybe a little bit of raccoon manipulation, these three buns will take on all comers to be the rulers of the park. Will they win? Well, this IS an origin story . . .

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Tuesdays with Tundra

Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. These titles are now available in stores and online!

Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf
By Deke Moulton
304 Pages | Ages 10-14 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774880524 | Tundra Books
Benji Zeb has a lot going on. He has a lot of studying to do, not only for school but also for his upcoming bar mitzvah. He’s nervous about Mr. Rutherford, the aggressive local rancher who hates Benji’s family’s kibbutz and wolf sanctuary. And he hasn’t figured out what to do about Caleb, Mr. Rutherford’s stepson, who has been bullying Benji pretty hard at school, despite Benji wanting to be friends (and maybe something more). And all of this is made more complicated by the fact that, secretly, Benji and his entire family are werewolves who are using the wolf sanctuary as cover for their true identities! Things come to a head when Caleb shows up at the kibbutz one night . . . in wolf form! He’s a werewolf too, unable to control his shifting, and he needs Benji’s help. Can anxious Benji juggle all of these things along with his growing feelings toward Caleb?

Narwhal’s Sweet Tooth: A Narwhal and Jelly Book #9
By Ben Clanton
80 Pages | Ages 6-9 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774884485 | Tundra Books
Dive into four new stories so sweet they’ll make your teeth tingle! Everyone knows that Narwhal is a big fan of sugary treats – but Jelly is shocked when Narwhal’s tusk-tooth isn’t looking so pearly white anymore  and is feeling a little funny. It turns out, Narwhal has been using it as a “snack saver”! Thankfully, no one knows more about dental hygiene than Shark – she has seven rows of teeth, after all! Meanwhile, Jelly and Crab try to show Narwhal that it’s fine to frown if you’re feeling down. Can Narwhal’s friends convince the happiest creature in the ocean that it’s okay to have a bad day?

Stars in My Crown
Written by Antonio Michael Downing
Illustrated by Richy Sánchez Ayala
48 Pages | Ages 4-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735271128 | Tundra Books
Little Tony is full of love for his grandmother, his home in Trinidad and delicious pholourie. But he’s also full of other big feelings, including anger. His grandmother tries to teach him to be patient – patience is a star in his crown, she says – but it’s hard. He tries to keep his anger in, but when he loses at ping-pong to his brother or he has to come in from playing . . . Yaaarrgh! When Little Tony and his brother move away from their beloved Trinidad, there’s even more for him to be upset about. His new home is cold, full of new people, and there’s no pholourie anywhere! Yaaarrgh! But then he remembers his grandmother’s lessons, and a surprising thing happens . . . A charming and heartwarming story based on the author’s own childhood, Stars In My Crown is an ode to big feelings but even bigger triumphs.

New in Paperback:

The Portal Keeper: The Misewa Saga #4
By David A. Robertson
256 Pages | Ages 10+ | Paperback
ISBN 9781774880272 | Tundra Books
Eli and Morgan experience life-changing revelations in this new adventure in the award-winning, Narnia-inspired Indigenous middle-grade fantasy series.
While exploring World’s End, an area in Aski they’ve just discovered, Morgan and Emily delight in their developing relationship, while Eli struggles to understand his new-found power: the ability to locate a portal. A shocking turn of events leads them to a new village, Ministik, where the animal beings who live there are going missing. Horrified to discover who is responsible, the children vow to help and turn to friends, old and new. But it’s getting harder and harder to keep the two worlds separate, especially when details of a traditional legend change everything. Forever.

We can’t wait to see you reading these titles! If you share these books online, remember to use #ReadTundra in your hashtags so that we can re-post.

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Creator Spotlight: Rachelle Delaney

At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our authors as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Rachelle Delaney!

About the Author:

RACHELLE DELANEY is the author of several middle-grade novels, including The Metro Dogs of Moscow, which was a CLA Book of the Year Honor Book, as well as a finalist for the Silver Birch Award and the Red Cedar Award, among others. Its sequel, The Circus Dogs of Prague, was shortlisted for the Pacific Northwest Library Association Young Reader’s Choice Award. The Bonaventure Adventures won BC’s Chocolate Lily Award in 2019, and Clara Voyant was a Chocolate Lily Award nominee. Her most recent book The Big Sting was shortlisted for the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Award.

Fast Five with Rachelle Delaney:

If you could live anywhere, where would it be?

Maybe the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The scenery is stunning and the towns are so picturesque. Also, Scotland has great bookstores. 

What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?

Time outside. I live near a huge forest in Vancouver, and walking or running on the trails boosts my mood immediately. 

Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?

Breakfast – probably because breakfast features coffee, and I adore coffee. 

What’s your “dance like nobody’s watching” song?

I don’t really have one, but my “run like you’re winning a marathon” song is Taylor Swift’s “You’re on Your Own, Kid.”

What is your favorite nature fact?

I love the fact that dolphins call each other by name (or, a distinct whistle that functions as a name). And researchers have found that infant dolphins learn their own individual whistles from their mothers! Dolphins are amazing.

Books by Rachelle Delaney:

Alice Fleck’s Recipes for Disaster
By Rachelle Delaney
256 Pages | Ages 9-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780735269293 | Puffin Canada
Alice Fleck’s father is a culinary historian, and for as long as she can remember, she’s been helping him recreate meals from the past – a hobby she prefers to keep secret from kids her age. But when her father’s new girlfriend enters them into a cooking competition at a Victorian festival, Alice finds herself and her hobby thrust into the spotlight. And that’s just the first of many surprises awaiting her. On arriving at the festival, Alice learns that she and her father are actually contestants on Culinary Combat, a new reality TV show hosted by Tom Truffleman, the most famous and fierce judge on TV! And to make matters worse, she begins to suspect that someone is at work behind the scenes, sabotaging the competition. It’s up to Alice, with the help of a few new friends, to find the saboteur before the entire competition is ruined, all the while tackling some of the hardest cooking challenges of her life . . . for the whole world to see.

Clara Voyant
By Rachelle Delaney
224 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780143198543 | Puffin Canada
Clara can’t believe her no-nonsense grandmother has just up and moved to Florida, leaving Clara and her mother on their own for the first time. This means her mother can finally “follow her bliss,” which involves moving to a tiny apartment in Kensington Market, working at a herbal remedy shop and trying to develop her so-called mystical powers. Clara tries to make the best of a bad situation by joining the newspaper staff at her new middle school, where she can sharpen her investigative journalistic skills and tell the kind of hard-news stories her grandmother appreciated. But the editor relegates her to boring news stories and worse . . . the horoscopes. Worse yet, her horoscopes come true, and soon everyone at school is talking about Clara Voyant, the talented fortune-teller. Clara is horrified – horoscopes and clairvoyance aren’t real, she insists, just like her grandmother always told her. But when a mystery unfolds at school, she finds herself in a strange situation: having an opportunity to prove herself as an investigative journalist . . . with the help of her own mystical powers.

The Big Sting
By Rachelle Delaney
224 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780735269323 | Tundra Books
Eleven-year-old Leo is an “armchair adventurer.” This, according to Dad, means he’d choose adventures in books or video games over real-life experiences. And while Leo hates the label, he can’t argue with it. Unlike his little sister Lizzie, Leo is not a risk-taker. So when he, Lizzie, Mom and Dad leave the city to visit Grandpa on Heron Island, Leo finds all kinds of dangers to avoid – from the deep, dark ocean to an old barn on the verge of collapse. But nothing on the island is more fearsome than Grandpa himself – Leo has never met anyone so grumpy! According to Mom, Grandpa is still grieving the recent death of his wife, a beekeeper beloved by everyone on the island. Despite Leo’s best efforts to avoid it, adventure finds him anyway when Grandma’s beehives go missing in the dead of night. Infuriated, Grandpa vows to track down the sticky-fingered thieves himself . . . with risk-averse Leo and danger-loving Lizzie (plus a kitten named Mayhem) in tow.

The Bonaventure Adventures
By Rachelle Delaney
288 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780143198512 | Puffin Canada
Sebastian Konstantinov has grown up in a travelling circus, surrounded by talented performers. Seb, however, has no circus skills at all. He can’t even turn a somersault. But he does know this: the old-fashioned circus his father founded is out of date and running low on money. If someone doesn’t figure out how to save it, the Konstantinovs will be in real trouble. Seb thinks he may have the answer, and it involves attending the highly selective Bonaventure Circus School in Montreal, Canada. Seb secretly writes to the school’s Directrice (conveniently leaving out the part about his lack of circus skills), and to his surprise, he gets accepted right away. Now all he has to do is keep his lack of talent a secret. But it turns out that Seb is not the only one with secrets. The school is literally crumbling beneath the students’ feet, and the Directrice is counting on Seb’s “talent” to save it.

The Metro Dogs of Moscow
By Rachelle Delaney
208 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780143184140 | Puffin Canada
JR (short for Jack Russell) is an embassy dog. His human, George, works in embassies around the world and so they both travel. A lot. Now George is working at the Canadian Embassy in Moscow. While George loves the globetrotting life, he doesn’t think JR needs any more excitement than hanging out at the park with the other embassy dogs. JR, however, has had quite enough of leashes and perfectly manicured parks-not to mention the boring embassy dogs. Inspired by seeing a stray dog steal a coil of sausages, JR sneaks out of his apartment to do a little exploring on his own and soon meets up with the wily stray and some of his friends. This is the life: amazing city smells! Mouthwatering stuffed potatoes! And best of all, the freedom to travel on the Moscow subway. But then JR’s new friends mysteriously start to disappear. When an embassy dog goes missing as well, JR knows he must use everything he’s learned about his new home to solve the mystery of Moscow’s missing dogs.

The Circus Dogs of Prague
By Rachelle Delaney
192 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780143184164 | Puffin Canada
JR and his embassy friends Robert, Pie, and Beatrix are on their way to Prague! Having solved the mystery of the missing dogs in Moscow, JR is ready for a vacatio with his human, George, and George’s Russian girlfriend, Nadya. And where better to distract themselves than in Prague, taking in the sights and meeting Nadya’s brother, a circus performer. But something is amiss at the circus-the animals are unhappy. The boxing kangaroo doesn’t want to box, the dancing chimpanzee doesn’t want to dance. Not only that, but a fancy new circus is coming to town, threatening to put everyone out of a job. It’s up to JR and the embassy dogs to save the show, with the help of some unlikely accomplices.

Tundra Book Group