CCBC Choices 2024

The CCBC Choices is a best-of-the-year list created annually by the librarians of the Cooperative Children’s Book Center. This year’s edition selected 238 books for children and teens published in the United States or Canada in 2023 that encompass a wide range of subjects, topics, and themes.

We would like to congratulate X. Fang and Cherie Dimaline on their CCBC Choices selection!

Dim Sum Palace
By X. Fang
48 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774881989 | Tundra Books
Liddy is so excited about going to the Dim Sum Palace tomorrow with her family that she can’t sleep. So when a delicious smell wafts into her room, she hops out of bed, opens her door and steps into . . . an actual palace of dim sum! There are dumplings, baos, buns and more delicious treats than one girl can possibly eat. Liddy just has to take a bite, but she slips and falls . . . into a bowl of dumpling filling. The chefs are so busy rolling, folding and pinching dough that they don’t notice they’ve prepared a most unusual dumpling for the Empress – a Liddy dumpling! Worst of all, she looks good enough to eat . . .

Funeral Songs for Dying Girls
By Cherie Dimaline
280 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735265639 | Tundra Books
Winifred has lived in the apartment above the cemetery office with her father, who works in the crematorium all her life, close to her mother’s grave. With her sixteenth birthday only days away, Winifred has settled into a lazy summer schedule, lugging her obese Chihuahua around the grounds in a squeaky red wagon to visit the neglected gravesides and nursing a serious crush on her best friend, Jack. Her habit of wandering the graveyard at all hours has started a rumor that Winterson Cemetery might be haunted. It’s welcome news since the crematorium is on the verge of closure and her father’s job being outsourced. Now that the ghost tours have started, Winifred just might be able to save her father’s job and the only home she’s ever known, not to mention being able to stay close to where her mother is buried. All she has to do is get help from her con-artist cousin to keep up the rouse and somehow manage to stop her father from believing his wife has returned from the grave. But when Phil, an actual ghost of a teen girl who lived and died in the ravine next to the cemetery, starts showing up, Winifred begins to question everything she believes about life, love and death. Especially love.

Tuesdays with Tundra

Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. This title is now available in stores and online!

New in Paperback:

Water, Water
Written by Cary Fagan
Illustrated by Jon McNaught
160 Pages | Ages 10+ | Paperback
ISBN 9780735270053 | Tundra Books
One morning Rafe wakes up to discover his bedroom is floating in a vast sea of water. Alone with only his dog for company, Rafe adapts to this strange new world by fishing cans of food out of the water and keeping watch. Boxes float by, as does a woman, playing her cello. Then, one day, Rafe fishes out a young girl, who joins him in his room – they don’t speak the same language, but they will face this uncertain future together.

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.

Cover Reveal: Rebel Fire

Tundra is very excited to be publishing Rebel Fire on September 3, 2024! Written by Ann Sei Lin, Rebel Fire is the second book in the Rebel Skies fantasy YA series, set in a world of flying ships, sky cities and rebel uprisings.

A Note from Ann:

Dear readers,

A huge thank you to everyone for being here and for following this adventure through with me! Kurara’s story begins in Rebel Skies with paper. It begins on a floating banquet hall in the middle of the sky when her ability to make origami animals dance brings her a little too much attention. In Rebel Fire, the journey continues with paper. With questions about what these paper creatures known as shikigami really are, and if they truly have a soul.

I believe that paper is a metaphor for possibility – a blank canvas for you to draw, paint, or write whatever is in your heart. As you read Rebel Fire, I hope that you too will fall in love with the possibilities this world and its characters have to offer.

Thank you again to everyone for joining Kurara on this journey.

– Ann Sei Lin

Cover Art: Amir Zand

Rebel Fire
By Ann Sei Lin
352 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774884010 | Tundra Books
Release Date: September 3, 2024
Kurara has barely escaped the grasp of Princess Tsukimi. Reeling from her Crafter mentor’s grim betrayal, Kurara and her friends are desperate to catch up with their old airship, even if it means they have to do it on foot. But after everything she’s been through, Kurara refuses to give up on understanding and freeing the shikigami, origami creatures enchanted to life, nor will she stop at anything to understand her mysterious past, no matter who tries to interfere . . . or what dark truths about her role in the war may surface, the farther south she goes. Her goal is the Grand Stream, where Suzaku, the greatest shikigami of all, likes in furious wait. But Kurara isn’t the only one searching for Suzaku. Traveling through forests, seas and the ruins of an underground Crafter city, there is no shortage of enemies who wish to control Kurara and the shikigami of the world for their own ends. When a bloody confrontation leads to horrifying revelations about the true nature of shikigami and Kurara’s past, Kurara will need all the support she can muster just to carry on.

Also by Ann Sei Lin:

Rebel Skies
By Ann Sei Lin
352 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774883983 | Tundra Books
Kurara has never known any other life than being a servant onboard the Midori, a flying ship serving the military elite of the Mikoshiman Empire, a vast realm of floating cities. Kurara also has a secret – she can make folded paper figures come to life with a flick of her finger. But when the Midori is attacked and Kurara’s secret turns out to be a power treasured across the empire, a gut-wrenching escape leads her to the gruff Himura, who takes her under his wing. Under Himura’s tutelage, and with the grudging support and friendship of his crew, Kurara learns to hunt shikigami – wild paper spirits sought after by the Princess of Mikoshima. But what does the princess really want with the shikigami? Are they merely enchanted figures without will or thought, or are they beings with souls and minds of their own? As fractures begin to appear both across the empire and within Kurara’s understanding of herself, Kurara will have to decide who she can trust. Her fate, and the fate of her friends – and even the world – may rest on her choice. And time is running out.

2024 PLA Conference

Hello book lovers! The Tundra Books team is headed to the PLA 2024 Conference happening in Columbus, Ohio from April 3rd to April 5th at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. We’ll be showcasing many of our wonderful titles at booth 2616! Come by and say hello to our Marketing and Publicity Senior Associate, Sam Devotta, our Marketing and Publicity Coordinator, Stephanie Ehmann, and our Editor, Peter Phillips. We have lots of great programming scheduled with our awesome guest authors, so be sure to check out our list of panels and signings below!

Panels:

Thursday, April 4th

At 6:00pm at the Hyatt Regency-Taft Room, join author Kern Carter for the School Library Journal Evening of Dialog.

Signings:

We will also be hosting author signings! Our guest authors will be signing provided copies of their books and art cards. You must be in line for the signing to receive a complimentary copy. Signings are based on first come, first served: one copy per person while quantities last.

Looking for literary assets for your schools and libraries? We’ve got you covered – ask about our catalogs, bookmarks, art cards, and more!

And don’t forget to follow us online @tundrabooks and @penguinteenca as we post live from the show floors!

Tuesdays with Tundra

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

Sparkles, No Sparkles
By Shannon McNeill
32 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735270398 | Tundra Books
A frog has no sparkle.
A poodle has no sparkle.
A pigeon has no sparkle.
Not to worry! A cape has sparkle, a crown has sparkle and boots have sparkle.
Some wily animals decide to hit the stage, leaving the actors without costumes. After the animals get their moment in the spotlight, chaos ensues . . . but luckily there are some chicks with sparkle to save the day.

New in Paperback:

The Further Adventures of Miss Petitfour
Written by Anne Michaels
Illustrated by Emma Block
160 Pages | Ages 6-9 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774884256 | Tundra Books
Miss Petitfour enjoys having adventures that are “just the right size” for a “single, magical day.” With her sixteen cats and the aid of a tablecloth as a makeshift balloon, Miss Petitfour soars – which is to say, she rises high in the air and flies – over her charmingly eccentric village, encountering adventures along the way. One never knows where the wind will take her in this delightfully seasonal collection of magical outings: perhaps to the aid of dearly loved friends and neighbors, including a hapless handyman and an onion-loving baby, or to a coconut-confetti parade, or in search of keys, lucky charms or even simply the perfect tablecloth for her next flight. A witty, whimsical, beautifully illustrated collection of tales that celebrate language, storytelling and all the pleasures of life, large and small!

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.

Tundra Book Group