Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. This title is now available in stores and online!
Sharon, Lois and Bram’s Peanut Butter and Jelly By Sharon Hampson, Lois Lilienstein, and Bram Morrison, with Randi Hampson Illustrated by Qin Leng 40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover ISBN 9780735271104 | Tundra Books From the creators of Skinnamarink comes another picture book based on the classic sandwich song made famous by this beloved trio of children’s entertainers. First you dig the peanuts and you dig ’em, you dig ’em, you dig ’em, dig ’em, dig ’em. Peanut, peanut butter, JELLY! Sharon, Lois & Bram invite readers to join them on an adventure to a magical place where a diverse group of animals and children come together to create the most delicious of snacks: a peanut butter and jelly sandwich! Accompanied by Qin Leng’s wonderfully whimsical illustrations, this delightful picture book celebrates friends, community, music and a favorite tasty treat – mmm mmm mmmm!
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.
We are excited to reveal the covers for two enchanting and action-packed YA debuts coming soon from Tundra Book Group: Clara Kumagai’s Catfish Rolling and Ann Sei Lin’s Rebel Skies!
Keep scrolling for the covers and as an exclusive treat, the authors interviewed each other!
Cover Design: Deena Micah Fleming and Sophie Paas-Lang Illustration: Andrew Davis
Catfish Rolling By Clara Kumagai 352 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover ISBN 9781774882764 | Penguin Teen Canada Release Date: October 3, 2023 There’s a catfish under Japan, and when it rolls, the land rises and falls. At least, that’s what Sora was told after she lost her mother to an earthquake so powerful that it cracked time itself. Sora and her father are some of the few who still live near the most powerful of these “zones” – the places where time has been irrevocably sped up, or slowed down. When high school ends, and her best friend leaves for university, Sora finds herself stuck and increasingly alone. She begins secretly conducting her own research, tracking down a time expert in Tokyo. She also feels increasingly conflicted in her quasi-romantic feelings for her best friend – and for the time expert’s assistant, a strikingly weird and confident girl named Marina, the first other hafu (half-Japanese, half-non) Sora has ever met. But when Sora’s father disappears, she has no choice but to return home and venture deep into the abandoned time zones to find him, and perhaps the catfish itself . . .
About the Author: Clara Kumagai is from Canada, Japan and Ireland. Her fiction and non-fiction for children and adults has been published in The Stinging Fly, The Irish Times, Banshee, Room, The Kyoto Journal and Cicada, among others. She is a recipient of a We Need Diverse Books Mentorship, and was a finalist for the 2020 Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award. Catfish Rolling is her debut novel.
Ann interviews Clara
Ann: What inspired you to write Catfish Rolling?
Clara: The first inspiration is the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and its aftermath – I was drawn into thinking about what life might look like after such a catastrophe, on the personal level of individual characters but also to a landscape. Because of the nuclear disaster at the TEPCO power plant, there are still exclusion areas in Tohoku where people can’t return to, and those deserted places were the inspiration not just for setting but for the time zones in the novel.
Ann: Where did you get the idea for fractured time and what inspired you to blend sci-fi with Japanese mythology?
Clara: The idea of time breakage came when I learned that the 2011 earthquake was so big that it shifted the earth on its axis – it actually began to spin faster – and as a result our day is a tiny bit shorter. (1.8 microseconds, to be precise.) It also caused Honshu, the main island of Japan, to move more than 6ft east. This seemed like science fiction to me when I learned it because it was pretty mind-boggling. So my idea of time breaking came from there, and on a bigger level it also fit in with being caught in the past or painful events. Trauma, grief and loss can catch and hold people in the past or in certain memories, and I wanted to explore how I could create a physical setting that conveyed that. The Japanese myth of the catfish is an old explanation for the cause of earthquakes, so as I researched I came upon the story and it just made sense to me. I’ve always loved myth and folklore, and they can simultaneously function as both entertaining stories and serious metaphors.
Ann: How did you first create Sora and is she your favorite character?
Clara: A lot of my writing is led by voice, and Sora’s voice just emerged as I began to write this story. I enjoy writing dialogue, and find it’s a good way to build a character, as well as exploring relationships and dynamics with other characters in a story. Once I have a feel for a character’s voice, I build up other elements like background, habits, actions . . . those details that make a character full and real. I don’t know if Sora is my favorite character (though I do love her!). My favorite may be Naomi because she is so smart and intimidating!
Illustration: Amir Zand
Rebel Skies By Ann Sei Lin 352 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover ISBN 9781774883983 | Tundra Books Release Date: February 13, 2024 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.
About the author: Ann Sei Lin is an author and librarian with a love for all things fantasy. Although London is now her home, she spent several years living and working in China, Japan, and is originally from Singapore. She received an undergraduate degree in Japanese Literature and completed an M.A. in Creative Writing, for which she was awarded a Distinction. When not writing, she is studying, gaming or doing origami.
Clara interviews Ann
Clara: What inspired you to use origami as the basis of a magic system?
Ann: I love origami (although I’m not great at it myself!) and so I wanted to make a world that revolved around paper craft. I think it’s quite interesting to turn something usually seen as fragile and weak into an instrument of power.
Clara: Were you influenced/inspired by other media such as movies, books, art, etc.?
Ann: I was really inspired by Ghibli movies, particularly Castle in the Sky and Princess Mononoke. I think there might be a touch of Howl’s Moving Castle in the design of some cities too!
Clara: The sky cities and origami are so visually striking – do you make maps or draw while you’re world building?
Ann: I did! Actually, the maps and insets in the books are based on my own sketches, which were then passed onto my illustrator to make them look a lot better. I like to draw and initially I did sketches of the characters and places, as well as commissioned some artwork as well. I think my favorite is a commissioned piece of the Orihime!
Clara: Names are significant (especially in Rebel Fire) and I was wondering how you chose Kurara as the main character’s name? (Asking this because my first name in Japanese is basically the same, though written in katakana only: クララ!)
Ann: I can’t remember who said ‘your name is your parent’s hopes for you,’ but I thought it was a beautiful sentiment. During the Meiji era, we were just starting to see girl’s names written with kanji, so in my mind Kurara’s name would be 苦楽楽 which includes the character for suffering and the character for comfort. It’s a bit of a weird reading, I know, but even though Kurara was going to suffer through this series, I wanted her to come out of things alright in the end. I suppose her name represented my wishes for her!
Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. This title is now available in stores and online!
The Big Bang and Other Farts By Daisy Bird Illustrated by Marianna Coppo 48 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover ISBN 9780735268012 | Tundra Books For fans of No One Likes a Fart, a hilariously fresh take on gas! A serious documentary turns into a very silly exploration of why important historical events happened the way they did . . . and the answer is always a fart! One day, Daddy Rat sits his baby rats down to watch a very serious documentary about some of the most important moments in history. Sounds boring, right? However, the babies are delighted and surprised when the documentary shows that the reason for life in the universe isn’t the Big Bang but . . . the Big Fart! It turns out, every single major historical event was caused by, you guessed it – a fart! The extinction of the dinosaurs, the end of the Ice Age . . . even the secret behind the Mona Lisa’s smile can all be traced to the passing of gas. For Daddy Rat, these smelly revelations are simply too much. But for the baby rats (and for young readers everywhere), this is the best show ever!
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.
Happy Birthday to Percy Jackson, one of our favorite greek heroes! Although technically he turned 30 today, he’ll always be the 12-year-old seaweed brain that we first met in The Lightning Thief.
Haven’t had the pleasure of being introduced to Percy Jackson yet? We’re here to get you started!
Percy Jackson and the Olympians
The Lightning Thief By Rick Riordan 416 Pages | Ages 10–14 | Paperback ISBN 9781368051477 | Disney Hyperion Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school . . . again. And that’s the least of his troubles. Lately, mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. But to succeed on his quest, Percy will have to do more than catch the true thief: he must come to terms with the father who abandoned him; solve the riddle of the Oracle, which warns him of betrayal by a friend; and unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.
The Sea of Monsters By Rick Riordan 320 Pages | Ages 10–14 | Paperback ISBN 9781368051491 | Disney Hyperion After a summer spent trying to prevent a catastrophic war among the Greek gods, Percy Jackson finds his seventh-grade school year unnervingly quiet. His biggest problem is dealing with his new friend, Tyson – a six-foot-three, mentally challenged homeless kid who follows Percy everywhere, making it hard for Percy to have any “normal” friends. But things don’t stay quiet for long. Percy soon discovers there is trouble at Camp Half-Blood: the magical borders which protect Half-Blood Hill have been poisoned by a mysterious enemy, and the only safe haven for demigods is on the verge of being overrun by mythological monsters. To save the camp, Percy needs the help of his best friend, Grover, who has been taken prisoner by the Cyclops Polyphemus on an island somewhere in the Sea of Monsters, the dangerous waters Greek heroes have sailed for millennia – only today, the Sea of Monsters goes by a new name . . . the Bermuda Triangle. Now Percy and his friends – Grover, Annabeth, and Tyson – must retrieve the Golden Fleece from the Island of the Cyclopes by the end of the summer or Camp Half-Blood will be destroyed. But first, Percy will learn a stunning new secret about his family – one that makes him question whether being claimed as Poseidon’s son is an honor or simply a cruel joke.
The Titan’s Curse By Rick Riordan 352 Pages | Ages 10–14 | Paperback ISBN 9781368051484 | Disney Hyperion When the goddess Artemis goes missing, she is believed to have been kidnapped. And now it’s up to Percy and his friends to find out what happened. Who is powerful enough to kidnap a goddess? They must find Artemis before the winter solstice, when her influence on the Olympian Council could swing an important vote on the war with the titans. Not only that, but first Percy will have to solve the mystery of a rare monster that Artemis was hunting when she disappeared – a monster rumored to be so powerful it could destroy Olympus forever.
The Battle of the Labyrinth By Rick Riordan 400 Pages | Ages 10–14 | Paperback ISBN 9781368051460 | Disney Hyperion Percy Jackson isn’t expecting freshman orientation to be any fun. But when a mysterious mortal acquaintance appears on campus, followed by demon cheerleaders, things quickly move from bad to diabolical. In this latest installment of the blockbuster series, time is running out as war between the Olympians and the evil Titan lord Kronos draws near. Even the safe haven of Camp Half-Blood grows more vulnerable by the minute as Kronos’s army prepares to invade its once impenetrable borders. To stop them, Percy and his demigod friends must set out on a quest through the Labyrinth – a sprawling underground world with stunning surprises at every turn. Full of humor and heart-pounding action, this fourth book promises to be their most thrilling adventure yet.
The Last Olympian By Rick Riordan 432 Pages | Ages 10–14 | Paperback ISBN 9781368051453 | Disney Hyperion All year the half-bloods have been preparing for battle against the Titans, knowing the odds are against them. Kronos is stronger than ever, and with every god and half-blood he recruits, his power only grows. In this momentous final book in the New York Times best-selling series, the prophecy surrounding Percy’s sixteenth birthday unfolds. And as the battle for Western civilization rages on the streets of Manhattan, Percy faces a terrifying suspicion that he may be fighting against his own fate.
The Chalice of Gods By Rick Riordan 288 Pages | Ages 8–12 | Hardcover ISBN 9781368098175 | Disney Hyperion Release Date: September 26, 2023 After saving the world multiple times, Percy Jackson is hoping to have a normal senior year. Unfortunately, the gods aren’t quite done with him. Percy will have to fulfill three quests in order to get the necessary three letters of recommendation from Mount Olympus for college. The first quest is to help Zeus’s cup-bearer retrieve his goblet before it falls into the wrong hands. Can Percy, Grover, and Annabeth find it in time? Readers new to Percy Jackson and fans who have been awaiting this reunion for more than a decade will delight equally in this latest hilarious take on Greek mythology.
Other Editions
The Lightning Thief The Graphic Novel By Rick Riordan Illustrated by Attila Futaki and Jose Villarrubia 128 Pages | Ages 8–12 | Paperback ISBN 9781368100823 | Disney Hyperion Release Date: November 21, 2023 Four huge talents from the comic book industry contributed to this adaptation of the classic that has sold millions of copies worldwide, has been on the New York Times best-seller list for more than twelve years, and is the basis of an 8-episode series on Disney+. Mythological monsters and the gods of Mount Olympus seem to be walking out of the pages of twelve-year-old Percy Jackson’s textbooks and into his life. And worse, he’s angered a few of them. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Now, he and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. Series creator Rick Riordan joins forces with four of the biggest names in comic books to tell the story of a boy who must unravel a treachery more powerful than the gods themselves.
The Lightning Thief Disney+ Tie In Edition By Rick Riordan 416 Pages | Ages 10–14 | Paperback ISBN 9781368098168 | Disney Hyperion Release Date: November 21, 2023 Read the book that launched Percy Jackson into the stratosphere before the Disney+ series comes out! Lately, mythological monsters and the Olympian gods seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy Jackson’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect. Percy and his friends have just ten days to find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. Whether you are new to Percy or a longtime fan, this tie-in paperback edition with full-color photos from the Disney+ series is a must-have for your library.
The Lightning Thief Deluxe Collector’s Edition By Rick Riordan 416 Pages | Ages 8–12 | Hardcover ISBN 9781368101028 | Disney Hyperion Release Date: January 16, 2024 This gorgeous foiled edition of The Lightning Thief with new interior art is the perfect accompaniment to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series The son of a sea god has never looked so good! Rick Riordan’s classic first novel, The Lightning Thief, has been dressed up in a deluxe edition with a foiled cover, stained edges, a marker ribbon, ten pages of new interior illustrations, and notes from Rick. This unabridged hardcover comes in a foiled slipcase with shrink-wrapping. Not only will it beautify any book collector’s shelf, but it can also be enjoyed along with the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series on Disney+.
More Adventures With Percy
Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero By Rick Riordan 592 Pages | Ages 10–14 | Paperback ISBN 9781484746417 | Disney Hyperion Jason has a problem. He doesn’t remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently she’s his girlfriend Piper, his best friend is a kid named Leo, and they’re all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for “bad kids.” What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea – except that everything seems very wrong. Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he’s in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn’t recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on? Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What’s troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper’s gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all – including Leo – related to a god.
The Trials of Apollo: The Hidden Oracle By Rick Riordan 416 Pages | Ages 10–14 | Paperback ISBN 9781484746417 | Disney Hyperion How do you punish an immortal? By making him human. After angering his father Zeus, the god Apollo is cast down from Olympus. Weak and disoriented, he lands in New York City as a regular teenage boy. Now, without his godly powers, the four-thousand-year-old deity must learn to survive in the modern world until he can somehow find a way to regain Zeus’s favor. But Apollo has many enemies-gods, monsters, and mortals who would love to see the former Olympian permanently destroyed. Apollo needs help, and he can think of only one place to go . . . an enclave of modern demigods known as Camp Half-Blood.
Loan Stars is the readers’ advisory tool that allows libraries across Canada to indicate popular upcoming titles every month. Loan Stars lists are now produced using On Order numbers from LibraryData. The forthcoming titles with the most orders become Loan Stars top picks!
We would like to congratulate Reed Duncan, JT Morrow, Candace Fleming, Eric Rohmann, Jon Klassen, Karen M. McManus, and Lane Smith on being selected for Loan Stars’ Junior Top 10 lists for July and August 2023.
Llama Llama’s Little Lie By Anna Dewdney and Reed Duncan Illustrated by JT Morrow 40 Pages | Ages 2-5 | Hardcover ISBN 9780593352489 | Viking BFYR When Llama Llama accidentally breaks Mama Llama’s favorite picture frame, he decides to tell a little lie about how it happened. In the end, Llama Llama learns a powerful lesson about telling the truth, even if it’s hard to say. Told with Anna Dewdney’s signature sweet rhyme, this newest installment of the Llama Llama series is timeless and can be used as a tool to educate readers in social and emotional learning.
Mine! By Candace Fleming Illustrated by Eric Rohmann 40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover ISBN 9780593181669 | Anne Schwartz Books In a tall, tall tree, at the tip-tippy top, hangs a single red apple . . . Along skirts Mouse. “An apple!” she squeaks, “How divine! When it tumbles to the ground, it’ll all be mine!” And so it goes, for Hare, Fox, Deer, and Bear, who each can’t wait to get their hands on the apple. Soon the wind huffs and puffs, the branch snips and snaps, and down the apple falls. Only one shiny red apple for five furry creatures? What are they to do?! Here is a read-aloud picture book, perfect for story time, that will have kids repeating the refrain “Mine!”. . . complete with an ending that celebrates sharing and is sure to surprise!
One of Us is Back By Karen M. McManus 368 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780593485019 | Delacorte Press The third time’s a charm. It’s been almost two years since Simon died in detention, and the aftermath has been hard to shake. First the Bayview Four had to prove they weren’t killers. Then a new generation outwitted a vengeful copycat. Now the entire Bayview Crew is back home for the summer, and everyone is trying to move on. Only, this is Bayview, and life is never that simple. At first the mysterious billboard seems like a bad joke: Time for a new game, Bayview. But when a member of the Bayview Crew disappears, it’s clear this “game” is serious – and whoever’s in charge isn’t sharing the rules. Or maybe there aren’t any. Bronwyn. Cooper. Addy. Nate. Maeve. Phoebe. Knox. Luis. Kris. Everyone’s a target. And now that someone unexpected has returned to Bayview, things could start getting deadly. The thing is, Simon was right about secrets – they all come out, eventually. And Bayview has a lot it’s still hiding.
Stickler Loves the World By Lane Smith 40 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover ISBN 9780593649831 | Random House Studio And just think of the wonders we must pass every day without even noticing! Stickler, an original character covered in sticks and with multiple ever-changing eyes, loves its little world. With best friend Crow, it shares the wonders of all the amazing things the world has to offer. Stickler is astonished by the ordinary, such as the sun and the stars, as well as fascinated by those things in nature that are often overlooked, such as swirling seed pods falling from the sky. The two pals wander about the world, stopping to appreciate the many marvels along the way, especially its beloved sticks, each one unique. Stickler Loves the World encourages awareness and mindfulness with a joyous and lighthearted touch. The award-winning illustrator of bestsellers including Penguin Problems and Giraffe Problems brings imagination and humor to a story that features a delightful and original character.
The Skull By Jon Klassen 112 Pages | Ages 6-9 | Hardcover ISBN 9781536223378 | Candlewick Jon Klassen’s signature wry humor takes a turn for the ghostly in this thrilling retelling of a traditional Tyrolean folktale. In a big abandoned house, on a barren hill, lives a skull. A brave girl named Otilla has escaped from terrible danger and run away, and when she finds herself lost in the dark forest, the lonely house beckons. Her host, the skull, is afraid of something too, something that comes every night. Can brave Otilla save them both? Steeped in shadows and threaded with subtle wit – with rich, monochromatic artwork and an illuminating author’s note – The Skull is as empowering as it is mysterious and foreboding.
