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Holiday Spotlight: Random House Children’s Books 2022

Here at Penguin Random House Canada, we’re lucky to work with so many different publisher lists. This holiday season, we’ll be highlighting each one with a dedicated post to help you find the perfect gift (or your next read). Today’s post is all about Random House Children’s Books.

All Are Neighbors
By Alexandra Penfold
Illustrated by Suzanne Kaufman
44 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593429983 | Alfred A. Knopf BFYR
Let’s go walking down our street.
Friends and neighbors here to greet.
There are oh so many folks to meet.
We all are neighbors here.
Moving to a new place can be hard, but when your neighbors welcome you with open arms, there are so many things to discover and celebrate. Come along with the kids from the bestsellers of All Are Welcome and Big Feelings as they introduce the new kid to a community where everyone has a place and is loved and appreciated – no matter what.

Five Survive
By Holly Jackson
400 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593374160| Delacorte Press
Red Kenny is on a road trip for spring break with five friends: her best friend and her older brother, his perfect girlfriend, a friend from school, and the guy Red wishes was more than a friend. But they won’t make it to their destination. When their RV breaks down in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service, they realize this is no accident. They have been trapped out there in the dark, by someone who wants them dead. With eight hours until dawn, the six friends must escape, or figure out which one of them is the target. But is there a liar among them? Buried secrets will be brought to light, and tensions inside the RV will reach deadly levels. Not all of them will survive the night . . . .

His Dark Materials: The Collectors
By Philip Pullman
Illustrated by Tom Duxbury
80 Pages | Ages 10+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593378342 | Alfred A. Knopf BFYR
In this darkly delicious tale, internationally acclaimed author Philip Pullman invites readers to meet the mysterious girl who will one day become the sinister Mrs. Coulter. On a cold winter’s night, two art collectors are settled before a fire in the senior common room of a college in Oxford, discussing two new unusual pieces – a portrait of a striking young woman and a bronze sculpture of a fearsome monkey. How could they imagine that they are about to be caught in the cross-fire of a story that has traveled across time and worlds . . . .

Memories and Life Lessons from the Magic Tree House
By Mary Pope Osborne
Illustrated by Sal Murdocca
144 Pages | Ages 7+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593484548 | Random House BFYR
Celebrate the 30th anniversary of the #1 New York Times bestselling series with heartfelt advice from Mary Pope Osborne’s own life and her magical adventures with Jack and Annie – perfect for Magic Tree House fans of all ages! Look for heroes, far and near. Give your gifts to the world. Have compassion for all creatures. These are just a few of the lessons that Magic Tree House fans will learn on their magical journey through this book. With quotes from the series and classic art by Sal Murdocca, Mary Pope Osborne, beloved author of the #1 bestselling Magic Tree House series, shares the wisdom she’s gained from her own childhood and thirty years of whisking Jack and Annie away in the magic tree house

Nubia: The Awakening
By Omar Epps and Clarence A. Haynes
368 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593428641 | Delacorte Press
For Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho, Nubia is a mystery. Before they were born, a massive storm destroyed their ancestral homeland, forcing their families to flee across the ocean to New York City. Nubia, a utopic island nation off the coast of West Africa, was no more, and their parents’ sorrow was too deep for them to share much of their history beyond the folklore. But New York, ravaged by climate change and class division, is far from a safe haven for refugees, and Nubians live as outcasts, struggling to survive in the constantly flooding lower half of Manhattan, while the rich thrive in the tech-driven sky city known as the Up High. To many, being Nubian means you’re fated for a life plagued by difficulties and disrespect. But Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho are beginning to feel there might be more. Something within them is changing, giving each of them extraordinary powers. Extraordinary and terrifying powers that seem to be tied to the secrets their parents have kept from them. And there are people Up High watching, eager to do anything they can to become even more powerful than they already are. Now Zuberi, Uzochi, and Lencho will be faced with the choice – do they use their inheritance to lift their people, or to leave them behind. The fate of their city, and their people, hangs in the balance.

Soul of the Deep
By Natasha Bowen
304 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593120989 | Random House BFYR
To save those closest to her, Simi traded away everything: her freedom, her family, and the boy she loves. Now she is sworn to serve a new god, watching over the Land of the Dead at the bottom of the ocean. But when signs of demons begin to appear, it’s clear there are deeper consequences of Simi’s trade. These demons spell the world’s ruin . . . and because of Simi, they now have a way into the human realm. With the fate of the world at stake, Simi must break her promise and team up with a scheming trickster of a god. And if they succeed, perhaps Simi can also unbreak her heart along the way, and find herself again.

Sweet Valley Twins: Best Friends
By Francine Pascal
Illustrated by Claudia Aguirre
Adapted by Nicole Andelfinger
224 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9780593376461 | Random House Graphic
Jessica and Elizabeth have always been inseparable twins, but starting middle school means a chance for new beginnings! Elizabeth is excited to organize a school newspaper, but Jessica is more interested in joining the exclusive Unicorn Club. What will happen when the twins realize they might not be as alike as they thought? Middle school is hard enough, but with these twins each dealing with becoming their own person – will they be able to stay friends at the same time? Francine Pascal’s beloved Sweet Valley Twins comes to life in a brand-new graphic novel that will have old and new fans delighted as they meet Jessica and Elizabeth in graphic novel form. With the lively artwork of Claudia Aguirre, Sweet Valley Twins: Best Friends is a contemporary middle-grade graphic novel filled with heart, laughter, and lots of twins.

The Area 51 Files
By Julie Buxbaum
Illustrated by Lavanya Naidu
304 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593429464 | Delacorte Press
When Sky Patel-Baum is sent to live with her mysterious uncle, she didn’t imagine she’d end up here: Area 51. A top-secret military base with a bajillion rules and so classified not even the president knows its secrets. Also, it turns out the place is full of aliens. Lots and lots of aliens. But they prefer to be called Break Throughs, thank you very much. As Sky sets out to explore her extraordinary new home with her pizza-obsessed pet hedgehog Spike, she meets her otherworldly next-door neighbor Elvis and his fluffy pup, Pickles. But something mysterious is afoot in Area 51. Some of the Break Throughs have gone missing . . . at the exact same time Sky arrived. Where could they be? How can Sky and her uncle convince everyone they had nothing to do with the disappearance? And why does the macaroni and cheese at Area 51 Middle have eyeballs in it? New best friends Sky, Elvis, Spike, and Pickles try to crack the case, but the clock is ticking . . . .

The Little Book of Joy
By His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Illustrated by Rafael López
40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593484234 | Crown BFYR
In their only collaboration for children, His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu use their childhood stories to show young people how to find joy even in hard times and why sharing joy with others makes it grow. The two spiritual masters tell a simple story, vibrantly brought to life by bestselling illustrator Rafael López, of how every child has joy inside them, even when it sometimes hides, and how we can find it, keep it close, and grow it by sharing it with the world. Sprung from the friendship, humor, and deep affection between these holy men, the book is a perfectly timed and important gift from two revered spiritual leaders to children. It is a reminder that joy is abundant – no matter what challenges we face – and has the power to transform the world around us even in the darkest of times.

Well, That Was Unexpected
Jesse Q. Sutanto
353 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593433973 | Delacorte Press
After Sharlot Citra’s mother catches her in a compromising position, she finds herself whisked away from LA to her mother’s native Indonesia. It’ll be exactly what they both need. Or so her mother thinks. When George Clooney Tanuwijaya’s father (who is obsessed with American celebrities) fears he no longer understands how to get through to his son, he decides to take matters into his own hands. To ensure that their children find the right kind of romantic partner, Sharlot’s mother and George’s father do what any “good” parent would do: they strike up a conversation online, pretending to be their children. When the kids find out about their parents’ actions, they’re horrified. Not even a trip to one of the most romantic places on earth could possibly make Sharlot and George fall for each other. But as the layers peel back and the person they thought they knew from online is revealed, the truth becomes more complicated. As unlikely as it may seem, did their parents manage to find their true match after all?

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Tundra Illustrator Gift Guide 2022

The Tundra Illustrator Gift Guide is back! For the last five years, we’ve put together gift guides – inspired by Travis Jonker’s The Ultimate Children’s Literature Illustrator Gift Guide 2017 – featuring our current roster of illustrators. We have something for everyone from some of the best children’s book illustrators in the world – treat your family and friends (or yourself!) to a beautiful piece of art this holiday season.

Shop Anne’s Tragical Tea Party and Abigail’s artwork

Abigail Halpin is an illustrator living in southern Maine, a few miles from the sea. Her illustrations are a blend of traditional and digital media, and she has illustrated many beautiful children’s books including Finding Wild, Fort Building Time, Itzhak: A Boy Who Loved the Violin and the Anne Chapter Book series (Anne Arrives, Anne’s Kindred Spirits, Anne’s School Days).

Shop Professor Goose Debunks Goldilocks and the Three Bears and Alex’s artwork

Alex G. Griffiths is a children’s book illustrator originally from London, UK. The majority of his work is done by hand, using a combination of pen and ink line work and brush textures in a messy way to create an unusual illustration style. He now lives in Canada with his wife and two children.

Shop Narwhalicorn and Jelly and Ben’s artwork

Ben Clanton is an author and illustrator whose picture books include Mo’s Mustache; Rot, the Cutest in the World!; Boo Who?; It Came in the Mail; Something Extraordinary; Rex Wrecks It! and Vote for Me! He lives with his family in Seattle, Washington.

Shop The Puffin Keeper and Benji’s artwork

Benji Davies an award-winning illustrator and author. Creator of the bestselling, acclaimed The Storm Whale, Grandad’s Island and The Grotlyn, Benji’s books have been co-editioned in over thirty-five languages and countries, gaining recognition worldwide. Benji is also the illustrator of the internationally successful Bizzy Bear board book series, which has topped three million sales globally.

Shop Simon and Chester: Super Family! and Cale’s artwork

Cale Atkinson is an illustrator, writer and animator living lakeside with his family in Kelowna, British Columbia, whose books include Sir Simon: Super Scarer, Where Oliver Fits, Monsters 101, Unicorns 101, Simon and Chester: Super Detectives! and Simon and Chester: Super Sleepover!, to name a few. Cale is assisted in his artistic endeavors by Charlie, a wise and noble floof.

Shop My Lala and Charlene’s artwork

Charlene Chua grew up in Singapore and immigrated to Canada as an adult. She has illustrated almost twenty picture books, including Hug?, Going Up, Raindrops to Rainbow and Amy Wu and the Perfect Bao. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario, with her husband and their two cats.

Shop Bibi’s Got Game and Chelsea’s artwork

Chelsea O’Byrne is an author, illustrator and art teacher based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She graduated in 2016 from Emily Carr University of Art + Design with a B.F.A. in Illustration. Since then, she has worked in editorial illustration and children’s books. Chelsea uses a combination of many different materials to make her illustrations, including gouache, watercolor, colored pencil, pastel, graphite, ink and markers. She is currently working on her fifth picture book.

Shop Midnight & Moon and Daniel’s artwork

Daniel Miyares is a critically acclaimed picture book author and illustrator. Some of his books include: Float, Night Out, That is My Dream, Bring Me A Rock!, and most recently Night Walk to the Sea. Daniel believes that our stories have the power to connect us all. Daniel’s story currently takes place in Lenexa, KS, with his wife, their two wonderful children, and a dog named Violet that gives them all a run for their money.

Shop The Language of Flowers and Night Lunch and Dena’s artwork

Dena Seiferling is a highly acclaimed picture book author and illustrator and needle-felt artist who graduated with a B.F.A. and Visual Communications Degree from the Alberta University of the Arts, where she now works as an instructor. She is the illustrator of King Mouse, which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, and its companion book Bear Wants to Sing. The Language of Flowers marked her exquisite debut as both author and illustrator.

Shop In the Clouds and Elly’s artwork

Elly MacKay is an acclaimed paper artist and children’s book author and illustrator. She wrote and illustrated the picture book Red Sky at Night, as well as Waltz of the Snowflakes, If You Hold a Seed and Butterfly Park, among others. Elly’s art was also featured on the covers of Tundra’s reissues of L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables and Emily of New Moon series. Her distinctive pieces are made using paper and ink, and then are set into a miniature theater and photographed, giving them their unique three-dimensional quality. She frequently collaborates with author Kallie George and their first picture book together is The Secret Fawn. Elly lives in Owen Sound, Ontario, with her two children.

Shop The Further Adventures of Miss Petitflour and Emma’s artwork

Emma Block is a multidisciplinary illustrator working across publishing, editorial illustration, licensing, packaging and branding. She wrote and illustrated the book Tea and Cake as well as two guides to painting, The Joy of Watercolor and Get Started with Gouache. She has illustrated many books, including Eat Love Play: Life Lessons From My Dog. Emma has worked with clients including HarperCollins, Hachette, Bloomsbury, Pinterest, Etsy, Harrods, Reuters, UNIQLO, Orla Kiely, Anthropologie, Polaroid, Airbnb and Trader Joe’s, among others.

Shop A Garden of Creatures and My Self, Your Self and Esmé’s artwork

Esmé Shapiro grew up in Laurel Canyon, California and Ontario, Canada, and is a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Her previous picture books include Ooko, which was nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award in 2016, Alma and the Beast, the recipient of two starred reviews, among other honors, and Carol and the Pickle-Toad, which has been widely praised. Esmé also illustrated Yak and Dove by Kyo Maclear, Eliza: The Story of Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton by Margaret McNamara and, most recently, A Garden of Creatures by Sheila Heti. She has exhibited at the Society of Illustrators, and her work has been featured in Taproot and Plansponsor magazines. Esmé lives in the Hudson Valley with her partner and their two dogs.

Shop Water, Water and Jon’s artwork

Jon McNaught raws comics, and works as an illustrator, printmaker and lecturer. His clients include Penguin Random House, Faber, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, Walker Books, Picador and the BBC. He is also a regular cover artist for the London Review of Books. He is the author of Kingdom, Birchfield Close, Pebble Island and Dockwood, which was the winner of the Angoulême Prix Révélation award in 2012. He lives in London, UK.

Shop How to High Tea with a Hyena and Kathryn’s artwork

Kathryn Durst is a graduate of Sheridan College in Ontario, Canada. She has a background in animation, having interned with Pixar Animation Studios. Kathryn has illustrated numerous children’s books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller from Paul McCartney, Hey Grandude!. When she is not illustrating books, she can be found playing the accordion, growing vegetables, folk dancing or putting on shadow puppet shows. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her grumpy mini dachshund named Chili Dog.

Shop The Family Tree and Lily’s artwork

Lily Snowden-Fine is an artist and illustrator with a focus on portraiture, children’s design and sculpture. She was the voice of the original Peppa Pig when it first aired in 2004, and she is the author and illustrator of Why Do Dogs Sniff Butts? and Why Do Cats Meow?. Lily is currently based in Vancouver, BC.

Shop We Adopted a Baby Chick and Lori’s artwork

Lori Joy Smith is an illustrator and fine artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries across Canada and the United States. Her illustrations have appeared on greeting cards and in Chirp, American Girl, Teen and Today’s Parent magazines, among other places. Lori has illustrated several picture books including Count Your Chickens by Jo Ellen Bogart, Run Salmon Run by Bobs & LoLo and My Canada by Katherine Dearlove. She has written and illustrated another picture book about Albert the sheep called We Adopted a Baby Lamb. Lori enjoys knitting, drawing and sewing. She lives with her family in Prince Edward Island, along with a growing menagerie of pets – three cats, two bunnies, one dog and two sheep.

Shop Too Many Pigs and One Big Bad Wolf and Marianna’s artwork

Marianna Balducci graduated in fashion studies and works as a freelance illustrator for communication projects and children’s books. Drawing is a state of life and her favorite way to explore the world. She usually mixes different techniques, especially illustration and photography. She loves surfing the web, catching great ideas and getting to know people and their stories. Marianna lives in Rimini, Italy, with 101 imaginary pigs.

Shop Star: The Bird Who Inspired Mozart and Matte’s artwork

Matte Stephens is a painter, illustrator and object maker. His work has been shown in galleries from New York to Seattle, and he has illustrated several children’s books including Mr. Flux by Kyo Maclear and Tigers and Tea with Toppy by Barbara Kerley and Rhoda Knight Kalt. Matte lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire, with his wife Vivienne and their pets Polly, Irving, Henry and Mr. Charlie.

Shop My Best Friend and Miguel’s artwork

Award-winning artist Miguel Tanco is a children’s book author and illustrator. He teaches illustration and organizes creative workshops for kids in Spain, where he was born and raised, and in Italy. He has published over forty children’s books including Count On Me; Great Dog; You and Me, Me and You; Les Farfelus; and The Story of Cyrano de Bergerac. He lives in Milan with his wife, Federica, and their two sons, Pablo and Javier.

Shop Kumo: The Bashful Cloud and Natalie’s artwork

Nathalie Dion is an acclaimed children’s book and editorial illustrator. She received a Governor General’s Award nomination for her work in Valérie Fontaine’s Le grand méchant loup dans ma maison, published in English as The Big Bad Wolf in My House. Nathalie’s beloved puffy white dog, along with the breathtaking cloud paintings of the modern era, inspired her to illustrate this book. She lives in Montreal, Quebec.

Shop Sharon, Lois & Bram’s One Elephant Went Out to Play and Qin’s artwork

Throughout her career, Qin Leng has illustrated picture books, magazines and book covers with publishers from around the world. Recent picture books include her author/illustrator debut I Am Small; Ordinary, Extraordinary Jane Austen written by Deborah Hopkinson; and A Family Is a Family Is a Family written by Sara O’Leary. Hana Hashimoto, Sixth Violin, written by Chieri Uegaki, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award, and received the APALA Award for best picture book. She lives in Toronto, with her husband and her son.

Shop Babble! And How Punctuation Saved it and Roman’s artwork

Roman Muradov is an award-winning editorial artist and graphic novelist who has created illustrations for The New Yorker, New York Times, Criterion, Vogue, Paris Review, Wired, the Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, GQ, Warby Parker, NPR, Monocle, Lucky Peach, Apple, Google, Airbnb, Lyft, Patreon and Dropbox, as well as the covers of the Penguin Classics Centennial Editions of James Joyce’s Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He has won multiple medals from the Society of Illustrators as well as the Young Guns Award from the Art Directors Club, and his work has been featured in The Comics Journal, American Illustration and Creative Quarterly, among others.

Shop How to Teach Your Cat a Trick and Zoe’s artwork

Zoe Si is a cartoonist and illustrator living in beautiful Vancouver, British Columbia. She has a lifelong passion for laughing at her own jokes and is always looking for new ways to tell stories with her art. Zoe holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of British Columbia and practiced law for a number of years. She now spends her days making children’s books, cartooning and writing for The New Yorker, freelance illustrating, and drawing comics of everything in sight. In her spare time, she enjoys climbing mountains and petting dogs, especially her own.

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Tundra Telegram: Books That Are Second to Nun

Hello, and thanks for joining us at Tundra Telegram, the column where we address the topics of the (holi)day, and offer some book recommendations we’re kvelling about – books that are anything but drei-dull.

There’s no escaping it; the holidays are right around the corner. Just this coming Sunday evening (December 18) will see the start of Hanukkah, the eight-day celebration to commemorate the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, where Jews rose up against their oppressors during the Maccabean Revolt in the second century BCE. It’s a holiday filled with song, games, menorah lightings, oily foods like latkes and sufganiyot, and books – at least it should be!

From the smallest kinder to readers who had their bar or bat mitzvahs long ago, we’ve got Hanukkah books for every age to read during the Festival of Lights. There might Macca-be one right for you! Chag sameach!

PICTURE BOOKS

Let’s start with the most important part of Hanukkah: the food. Latkes and Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story by Fran Manushkin and Kris Easle is the story of a stray cat and stray dog (named ‘Applesauce’ and ‘Latke’) who are taken in by the Menash family during a Hanukkah blizzard. The terrible weather dashes their hopes of harvesting apples or potatoes for either of their favorite Hanukkah eats, but the two animal guests may bring with them a brand-new miracle worthy of the holiday.

Likewise, Meet the Latkes by Canadian Alan Silberberg has potato fritters at its center – an entire family of them! Lucy Latke’s family celebrates Hanukkah, which includes a fractured retelling of the holiday legend from Grandpa Latke, who describes how the mighty Mega Bees (?) use a giant dreidel (?!) to fight against the evil alien potatoes.

The power of a good latke propels the plot in Eric A. Kimmel and Mike Wohnoutka‘s Hanukkah Bear. Nearsighted Bubby Brayna makes the best latkes in the village. And the scent of her delicious potato pancakes attracts an unexpected visitor the first night of Hanukkah: a bear, wakened from hibernation! Brayna mistakes the lumbering beast for the Rabbi, and invites him in for food and few spins of the dreidel, proving Hanukkah can be enjoyed by everyone.

But if you have a young reader experiencing one of their first Hanukkahs, you may want to start with the reasons for the season. Enter Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights by Bonnie Bader and Joanie Stone. This Big Golden Book not only tells preschoolers how people usually celebrate Hanukkah – from the food eaten, the dreidels spun, and the gifts exchanged – but also why. Young readers will learn all about the destruction of the Temple, the bravery of the Maccabees, and the miracle of a tiny bit of oil that somehow lasted for eight nights.

David Martin and Melissa Sweet‘s Hanukkah Lights similarly bring the winter holidays to life for the youngest readers, but on top of the usual traditions, adds a bit of free-form fun, including shadow puppetry (!), singing, and dancing.

Having trouble interesting young kids in the Festival of Lights? No arbet is too big, no quantity of oil too small! The PAW Patrol rushes to the rescue with Happy Hanukkah, Pups! Marshall, Skye, Rubble, and the rest of Ryder’s furry first-responders help their new friends Rachel and Jimmy decorate for a Hanukkah party. Along the way, they also help readers count from one to ten, with objects like dreidels, candles, and snowflakes.

Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric A. Kimmel and Trina Schart Hyman is, by this point, a bonafide holiday classic. Based on a Ukrainian folktale, the book tells the story of folk hero Hershel of Ostropol, who, the first night of Hanukkah, arrives in a village where the villagers are too afraid of goblins haunting the synagogue to light the menorah. It’ll take a little cleverness on Hershel’s part to trick a series of goblins, one night after another, to help the locals truly celebrate the holiday.

Want your Hanukkah celebrations to get medieval? You need The Eight Knights of Hanukkah by Leslie Kimmelman and Galia Bernstein. A kingdom’s Hanukkah celebrations are disrupted by Dreadful the dragon, who is determined to scorch every dreidel and scarf up every sufganiyot. The kingdom must call upon eight special knights to perform deeds of kindness and bravery, in this fun interpretation of the holiday.

You may have noted the lack of a Santa-Claus-esque figure in Hanukkah. Author Arthur A. Levine and illustrator Kevin Hawkes have created an answer to that with The Hanukkah Magic of Nate Gadol, a picture book that introduces a mysterious gift-giver to the Jewish holiday. Set in late 1800s America, it features a miraculous figure who can make anything last as long as it is needed, whether it’s that legendary bit of oil that must stretch for eight nights, a flower that needs to stay fresh to keep someone cheerful, or a small lump of chocolate that grows to treat the entire family. Nate Gadol even teams up with St. Nick, in this Infinity War of holiday picture books.

Speaking of modern legends about Hanukkah, we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about Richard Ungar‘s Yitzi and the Giant Menorah. The Mayor of Lublin sends the people of Chelm a special gift: a giant menorah that they place in the square and gather around for the lighting each night of Hanukkah. The Chelm villagers try to figure out a fitting gift for the Mayor in return, and after multiple attempts, it’s Yitzi who figures out the perfect gift is sometimes . . . song.

There are also a few Hanukkah ditties in All-of-a-Kind Family Hanukkah by Emily Jenkins and Paul O. Zelinsky, featuring the characters from Sydney Taylor’s classic All-of-a-Kind Family, an immigrant family with five sisters living in New York’s Lower East Side in 1912, as they prepare for Hanukkah. Gertie, the youngest, is not allowed to help prepare the latkes, which bothers her to no end until she realizes – spoiler alert – she has the best job of all: lighting the first candle of the menorah.

A perfect gift for families that celebrate multiple holiday traditions, Daddy Christmas and Hanukkah Mama by Selina Alko, features Sadie’s family, who celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah! (Watch out, Sandy and Kirsten Cohen.) Young readers can expect golden gelt under the Christmas tree, and candy canes hanging on eight menorah branches in this celebration of modern, blended traditions.

And Hanukkah, Here I Come! by D.J. Steinberg and Sara Palacios features a pile of funny and festival Hanukkah poems. Even better, the book comes with a sheet of Hanukkah stickers. So, if you’ve ever wanted to adorn your laptop or notebook with a menorah sticker, this is the book you need!

CHAPTER BOOKS & MIDDLE GRADE

An epic fantasy adventure inspired by Jewish traditions at Hanukkah? Yes, please. The Golden Dreidel by award-winning fantasy author Ellen Kushner has the adventure you crave, as Sara is gifted an enormous golden dreidel by her Tante Miriam that comes with a caveat: spinning the dreidel will spin literal miracles! So, she must be careful. But what kind of adventure would it be if Sara was careful? In no time at all, she’s spun herself into a dimension full of magical princesses, enigmatic riddles, and terrifying demons.

The only Jewish kid in school gets a new appreciation for the Festival of Lights in Amy Goldman Koss‘s How I Saved Hanukkah. Marla Feinstein hates December. While everyone else is decorating trees, she forgets to light the candles on the menorah and stares at a big, plastic dreidel. Marla decides to find out what Hanukkah is really all about – and soon she has made Hanukkah the most happening holiday party in town.

Koss’s book has some genuinely funny moments, but for something to get you rolling with laughter, there’s always Hanukkah Mad Libs, in which young readers can fill in nouns, verbs, and adjectives in 21 Hanukkah-themed stories. The book is sure to be a shamash hit with kids who love funny stuff.

YOUNG ADULT

There aren’t too many YA books with a Hanukkah plot or theme, but an exception is the brand-new bubbly romance Eight Nights of Flirting by Hannah Reynolds. Sixteen-year-old Shira Barbanel has a mission to get a boyfriend over Hanukkah, she’s going to get a boyfriend. She even has a boy in mind – reliable and super-hot Isaac – but she is terrible at flirting. When she gets snowed in with Tyler Nelson, her nemesis and former crush, who is perhaps the most charming boy in school, she offers up a trade: flirting tips for career connections. (I think you can see where this is going.) Check out this holiday rom-com that’s hotter than an oiled pan.

And the anthology It’s a Whole Spiel: Love, Latkes, and Other Jewish Stories, edited by Katherine Locke and Laura Silverman, features a number of stories – some of which take place during Hanukkah! In particular, the stories “Jewbacca” by Lance Rubin, about a very secular boy invited to a disastrous Hanukkah dinner by the rabbi’s daughter, and “Some Days You’re the Sidekick; Some Days You’re the Superhero” by Katherine Locke, which tells the story of Gabe, who writes fanfiction of the X-Men as the Maccabees (!), most directly deal with the holiday. If your Hanukkah has Wolverine, count me in!

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Teen Top Ten: November 2022

Wanna know what everyone else has been reading and loving lately? Every month we’ll post our list of top ten bestselling YA books that we publish and sell in Canada. Here are the Teen Top Ten titles for the month of November 2022 – how many have you read?

1. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder
By Holly Jackson
400 Pages | Ages 14+ | Paperback
ISBN 9781984896391 | Ember
Everyone in Fairview knows the story. Pretty and popular high school senior Andie Bell was murdered by her boyfriend, Sal Singh, who then killed himself. It was all anyone could talk about. And five years later, Pip sees how the tragedy still haunts her town. But she can’t shake the feeling that there was more to what happened that day. She knew Sal when she was a child, and he was always so kind to her. How could he possibly have been a killer? Now a senior herself, Pip decides to re-examine the closed case for her final project, at first just to cast doubt on the original investigation. But soon she discovers a trail of dark secrets that might actually prove Sal innocent . . . and the line between past and present begins to blur. Someone in Fairview doesn’t want Pip digging around for answers, and now her own life might be in danger.

2. Girl in Pieces
By Kathleen Glasgow
448 Pages | Ages 14+ | Paperback
ISBN 9781101934746 | Ember
Charlotte Davis is in pieces. At seventeen she’s already lost more than most people do in a lifetime. But she’s learned how to forget. The broken glass washes away the sorrow until there is nothing but calm. You don’t have to think about your father and the river. Your best friend, who is gone forever. Or your mother, who has nothing left to give you. Every new scar hardens Charlie’s heart just a little more, yet it still hurts so much. It hurts enough to not care anymore, which is sometimes what has to happen before you can find your way back from the edge. A deeply moving portrait of a girl in a world that owes her nothing, and has taken so much, and the journey she undergoes to put herself back together. Kathleen Glasgow’s debut is heartbreakingly real and unflinchingly honest. It’s a story you won’t be able to look away from.

3. Good Girl, Bad Blood
By Holly Jackson
416 Pages | Ages 14+ | Paperback
ISBN 9781984896438 | Ember
Pip is not a detective anymore. With the help of Ravi Singh, she released a true-crime podcast about the murder case they solved together last year. The podcast has gone viral, yet Pip insists her investigating days are behind her. But she will have to break that promise when someone she knows goes missing. Jamie Reynolds has disappeared, on the very same night the town hosted a memorial for the sixth-year anniversary of the deaths of Andie Bell and Sal Singh. The police won’t do anything about it. And if they won’t look for Jamie then Pip will, uncovering more of her town’s dark secrets along the way . . . and this time everyone is listening. But will she find him before it’s too late?

4. We Were Liars
By E. Lockhart
320 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback
ISBN 9780385741279 | Ember
A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends – the Liars – whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.
Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

5. As Good As Dead
By Holly Jackson
464 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593379851 | Delacorte Press
Pip is about to head to college, but she is still haunted by the way her last investigation ended. She’s used to online death threats in the wake of her viral true-crime podcast, but she can’t help noticing an anonymous person who keeps asking her: Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears? Soon the threats escalate and Pip realizes that someone is following her in real life. When she starts to find connections between her stalker and a local serial killer caught six years ago, she wonders if maybe the wrong man is behind bars. Police refuse to act, so Pip has only one choice: find the suspect herself – or be the next victim. As the deadly game plays out, Pip discovers that everything in her small town is coming full circle . . . and if she doesn’t find the answers, this time she will be the one who disappears . . . .

6. One of Us Is Lying
By Karen M. McManus
416 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9781524714680 | Delacorte Press
Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention, Simon’s dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who is still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

7. Walking in Two Worlds
By Wab Kinew
296 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback
ISBN 9780735269026 | Tundra Books
Bugz is caught between two worlds. In the real world, she’s a shy and self-conscious Indigenous teen who faces the stresses of teenage angst and life on the Rez. But in the virtual world, her alter ego is not just confident but dominant in a massively multiplayer video game universe. Feng is a teen boy who has been sent from China to live with his aunt, a doctor on the Rez, after his online activity suggests he may be developing extremist sympathies. Meeting each other in real life, as well as in the virtual world, Bugz and Feng immediately relate to each other as outsiders and as avid gamers. And as their connection is strengthened through their virtual adventures, they find that they have much in common in the real world, too: both must decide what to do in the face of temptations and pitfalls, and both must grapple with the impacts of family challenges and community trauma. But betrayal threatens everything Bugz has built in the virtual world, as well as her relationships in the real world, and it will take all her newfound strength to restore her friendship with Feng and reconcile the parallel aspects of her life: the traditional and the mainstream, the east and the west, the real and the virtual.

8. Iron Widow
By Xiran Jay Zhao
400 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735269934 | Penguin Teen Canada
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often die from the mental strain. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it’s to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister’s death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected – she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.​ To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia​. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way – and stop more girls from being sacrificed.

9. Nothing More to Tell
By Karen M. McManus
368 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9780593175903 | Delacorte Press
Four years ago, Brynn left Saint Ambrose School following the shocking murder of her favorite teacher – a story that made headlines after the teacher’s body was found by three Saint Ambrose students in the woods behind their school. The case was never solved. Now that Brynn is moving home and starting her dream internship at a true-crime show, she’s determined to find out what really happened. The kids who found Mr. Larkin are her way in, and her ex-best friend, Tripp Talbot, was one of them. Without his account of events, the other two kids might have gone down for Mr. Larkin’s murder – but instead, thanks to Tripp, they’re now at the top of the Saint Ambrose social pyramid. Tripp’s friends have never forgotten what Tripp did for them that day, and neither has he. Just like he hasn’t forgotten that everything he told the police was a lie. Digging into the past is bound to shake up the present, and when Brynn begins to investigate what happened in the woods that day, she uncovers secrets that might change everything – about Saint Ambrose, about Mr. Larkin, and about her ex-best friend, Tripp Talbot. Four years ago someone got away with murder. More terrifying is that they might be closer than anyone thinks.

10. The Outsiders
By S. E. Hinton
224 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback
ISBN 9780140385724 | Viking BFYR
The 45th anniversary of a landmark work of teen fiction. Ponyboy can count on his brothers and his friends, but not on much else besides trouble with the Socs, a vicious gang of rich kids who get away with everything, including beating up greasers like Ponyboy. At least he knows what to expect – until the night someone takes things too far. Written forty-five years ago, S. E. Hinton’s classic story of a boy who finds himself on the outskirts of regular society remains as powerful today as it was the day it was written.

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Tundra Telegram: Books That Push the Envelope

Hello, and thanks for joining us at Tundra Telegram, the column where we address the topics that correspond to our readers’ concerns and deliver some appropriate books that have our stamp of approval.

Yesterday, December 7, was National Letter Writing Day, a day to celebrate the art of handwritten correspondence. Whether it’s a thank-you note, a message to update a friend or family member (and find out what’s new with them!), or a missive to the big man in red at the North Pole, yesterday was a great day to sit right down and write someone a letter.

We’ve got a great collection of books for every age all about written correspondence. Pen pal communications, love letters, messages written to people who may never read them: this list has it all when it comes to letter writing. P.S. Not only will we recommend these titles, we’ll try to include who is writing to whom – and why!

PICTURE BOOKS

I Do Not Like Yolanda by Zoey Abbott is an excellent picture book to start our letter journey because Bianca, the book’s main character, loves writing letters – everything about them: the stamps, the addresses, the pictures she can draw on them. She writes multiple letters a week, to everyone from her Uncle Kenta to her Sri Lankan pen pal. The only thing she does not like about writing letters is when she has to go to the post office to mail them and encounters Yolanda, her most dreaded post office employee. But Bianca soon learns first impressions can be as variable as mail delivery times.

A pivotal letter changes everything in The Bug Girl by Sophia Spencer (who is also the title character), Margaret McNamara, and Kerascoët. Seven-year-old Sophia is bullied at school for liking insects. Sophia’s mother writes to an entomological society looking for a bug scientist to be a pen pal for her daughter, and she’s overwhelmed by the response: letters, photos, and videos flood in and scientists tweet hundreds of times using the hashtag #BugsR4Girls to encourage Sophia’s interest in bugs. It’s the power of the written letter in action!

Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers also demonstrate the power of the written message in their modern classic The Day the Crayons Quit. Eager to do some coloring, Duncan opens his crayon box only to find a series of “Dear John” letters. All the crayons have written to say they’ve quit – though all for their own particular reasons – in this ode to drawing, writing letters, and labor action.

Author Troy Cummings has written a fun trilogy of letter-writing picture books. The unusual part is that these letters are paw-written, as they’re penned by Arfy, a dog. In Can I Be Your Dog?, homeless Arfy writes cover letters to a series of people in an effort to find a forever home. In I Found a Kitty!, he seeks the same for a cat he discovers in a sewer pipe (!). And with Is This Your Class Pet?, Arfy writes letters to the teachers and principal of the school in which he’s a reading buddy after he finds a pet turtle gone astray. These books are essential reading for letter and animal fans.

We can believe a dog writing letters, but a dragon? Well, it happens in Dear Dragon: A Pen Pal Tale by Josh Funk and Rodolfo Montalvo. George writes regularly to his pen pal Blaise to talk sports, pets, and school. But George doesn’t realize his friend Blaise is a dragon, and Blaise doesn’t realize George is a human kid. Unintentional catfishing with mythical creatures? Count us in!

The Thank You Letter by Jane Cabrera is about writing letters of gratitude. In particular, it’s about Grace, who – after her birthday – decides to write letters to thank her friends and family for all their kind gifts. Realizing she has so much to be thankful for, she adds a letter to her teacher for helping her learn to write and one for her dog for wagging his tail. Grace soon finds this gratitude is reciprocated by the community, as she receives letters back from so many of her addressees.

What’s better than one thank-you letter? Ten Thank-You Letters, which also happens to be the name of a book by Daniel Kirk. Pig is trying to write a thank-you letter to his grandma when he’s interrupted by his friend Rabbit, who wants to play. Rabbit, inspired by Pig, begins to write a flurry of thank-you letters of his own – to everyone from the crossing guard to the President (shades of Grace!). His tenth thank-you letter is written to Pig for being such a great friend. (Awwww.)

For a book that’s both about letter-writing and the holidays, check out Dear Santa, Love, Rachel Rosenstein by Amanda Peet (yes, that Amanda Peet), Andrea Troyer, and Christine Davenier. Rachel Rosenstein is determined to celebrate Christmas. The fact that her family is Jewish is not going to stop her, since she’s writing Santa a letter to explain her situation (on top of dropping in on him at the mall). In the end, though Rachel loves the trappings of Christmas, she also gains a greater understanding of her own family’s traditions.

CHAPTER BOOKS & MIDDLE GRADE

Technically they are postcards in The Collected Works of Gretchen Oyster by Cary Fagan, but they count as written letters! Even better, they’re letters with a mystery attached. Hartley Staples is having some family troubles at home when he starts to notice handmade postcards all over his small town, all signed “G.O.” Soon Hartley becomes obsessed with these cryptic messages and the person responsible for them.

You already know who the letter recipient is in Susin Nielsen‘s Dear George Clooney, Please Marry My Mom. The question is: does People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive (1997, 2006) write back? Violet’s parents have recently split up, and she lives with her mom, dragged along on her awkward quest for love as Violet faces her own struggles with anger management. When Violet’s mom starts dating someone named Dudley Wiener (!), Violet and her friend Phoebe embark on a campaign to lure Mr. Clooney.

The entire middle school seems to be writing letters to Autumn in Dear Student by Elly Swartz. See, Autumn has become the anonymous voice of an advice column in her school newspaper, which is fun until she finds herself in the middle of a problem that puts two of her friends on the opposing sides of a conflict. Can she provide fair advice, given her personal connection? Can her identity remain a secret? This is a book that digs into the ethics of letter responses.

YOUNG ADULT

Perhaps we don’t publish Jenny Han’s most famous letter-based YA romances, but we have plenty of quality YA literature featuring messages in envelopes. Even romances! For instance, Rachel Cohn and David Levithan‘s Dash & Lily series are all about romance and the written word. In Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (now a delightful Netflix series) it’s a red notebook full of challenges on a bookstore by which Dash and Lily flirt before they ever meet face-to-face. But by the third book, Mind the Gap, Dash & Lily, our lovestruck odd couple are writing each other from across the Atlantic Ocean, as Dash studies at Oxford University. (Twelve Days of Dash & Lily doesn’t have much letter writing content, to be honest, but it’s part of the series.)

An enthusiastic English teacher’s assignment is to blame for the letters in Sarah Henstra‘s We Contain Multitudes. Closeted jock Kurl and nerdy and out Jo are thrown together in English class and forced to write an old-fashioned letter to each other every week. The unlikely pair become friends, sharing their experiences of homophobia, bullying, and familial abuse with one another, then something more in this emotional queer romance.

Again, not so much a series of letters as entries in a journal, Dear Martin by Nic Stone features Justyce McAllister, a Black teen facing challengers from police violence to toxic masculinity who turns to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In his journal, he addresses his questions and concerns to the late Dr. King in an effort to see if King’s philosophies still have relevance in contemporary America, and these letters are interspersed throughout Justyce’s story. And if you like that, check out the follow-up Dear Justyce, in which incarcerated teen and friend from the neighborhood Quan writes letters to Justyce about his experiences in the juvenile justice system.

Write on, young readers!

Tundra Book Group