Tag: Ricard Zaplana Ruiz

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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!

The Spark in Me
By Miguel Tanco
56 Pages | Ages 4-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774885802 | Tundra Books
Everyone has their thing. Some people are dreamers. Some people are practical. Some people like to invent things. Our heroine isn’t sure what her thing is. But she knows she has a lot of questions, like could she be faster than her own echo? If she built a giant paper boat, could she sail the sea? And how strong would she need to be to launch another kid into orbit from a teeter-totter? Eventually, she learns that all her questions have to do with one thing: physics! In this thoughtful and gorgeous ode to the search for knowledge and finding one’s passion, phsyics becomes a way for our heroine to ponder the magic of the world.

Library Girl
By Polly Horvath
256 Pages | Ages 10+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774883341 | Puffin Canada
Essie has grown up in the public library, raised in secret by the four librarians who found her abandoned as a baby in the children’s department. With four mothers and miles of books to read, Essie has always been very happy living there. But now that she is eleven, Essie longs for a little more freedom . . . and maybe a friend her own age. She seems to get her wish when her moms let her go by herself to the mall and then on her second trip there, she meets G.E., a mysterious boy who looks so much like her she can’t help but think they may be twins. Maybe he was raised by four dads in the department store. Maybe his story is intertwined with hers, and their happy ending is as one big family. But as she gets to know him better, she learns that nothing is as simple as it seems in her stories – not even her own past.

Team Park
By Angela Ahn
240 Pages | Ages 9-12 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774883433 | Tundra Books
Eleven-year-old Evan Park’s dad believes boys should play team sports, but as much as Evan has tried to like soccer and other team sports, he just doesn’t. And when an accident causes Evan to break his wrist, he is determined that once he heals, he’ll work on finding his thing. Alone. Inspired by his athletic physiotherapist, Evan decides to compete in an upcoming Dominator Ninja Junior Edition competition. It will be part rehab, part fun. If he trains hard enough, he’ll finally have something to put on his empty shelf in the family trophy cabinet. Maybe that would make his dad proud of him for once. But klutzy Evan strikes again! With a newly injured wrist, he can forget about competing in Dominator Ninja – he can’t even hold chopsticks. When his sister encourages him to look beyond a solo competition, they discover a local family race which is more about the experience than the results. Can Evan shift his perspective to rally the whole family to do this event . . . together?

New in Paperback:

Billy and the Giant Adventure
Written by Jamie Oliver
Illustrated by Mónica Armiño
368 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9781774884164 | Tundra Books
One pinch of adventure, a dash of friendship, a sprinkle of mystery and a HUGE spoonful of magic . . . Jamie Oliver, bestselling author and internationally renowned chef, delivers the perfect recipe for a page-turning children’s fiction debut! Billy and his friends know that Waterfall Woods is out of bounds; strange things are rumored to have happened there and no one in their village has ventured past its walls for decades . . . But when they discover a secret way in, Billy and his best friends, Anna, Jimmy and Andy, can’t resist the temptation to explore! Only to quickly discover that the woods are brimming with magic and inhabited by all sorts of unusual creatures, including a whole community of sprites who need the children’s help! With magical battles, a long-lost mythical city, fantastical flying machines, epic feasts and one GIANT rescue – not to mention some mouth-watering recipes at the back – get ready for an adventure you’ll never forget!

New in Boxed Set:

Unstoppable Us: The Two-Book Boxed Set
Written by Yuval Noah Harari
Illustrated by Ricard Zaplana Ruiz
416 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Boxed Set
ISBN 9781774887516 | Puffin Canada
Learn HOW early humans took over the Earth and WHY the world they built isn’t fair in this two-volume boxed set of the New York Times bestselling UNSTOPPABLE US series. The author of SAPIENS takes middle school readers on an epic and exciting voyage through early human history in these beautifully illustrated books.
Unstoppable Us, Volume 1: How Humans Took Over the World
Humans are the most dominant species to ever exist. But how did we get that way? The answer is one of the strangest tales you’ll ever hear…
Unstoppable Us, Volume 2: Why the World Isn’t Fair
What happened next? How did our hunter-gatherer ancestors become farmers? Why were kingdoms and laws established? How did we go from being the rulers of Earth to the rulers of each other?
Acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harari has expertly crafted two extraordinary stories of how humans learned to not only survive but also thrive on Earth, complete with maps, a timeline, and full-color illustrations that bring his dynamic, unputdownable writing to life.

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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Tuesdays with Tundra

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

I’m From
Written by Gary R. Gray, Jr.
Illustrated by Oge Mora
40 Pages | Ages 4-8 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774886168 | Puffin Canada
Early morning wake-ups and homemade pancakes, 
Raucous bus rides and schoolyard games, 
Family games and bedtime rituals . . . These are the small moments that shape a child’s day. I’m From is an invitation into the vivid world of one small boy, a poetic account of all the people and places and things that shape who he is and define where he is from.

The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime
Written by Eija Sumner
Illustrated by Nici Gregory
40 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover
ISBN 9780735267893 | Tundra Books
Once upon an evening, a good little mermaid begins to get ready for bed. Once upon? No. Not once upon. I know what that means. And I’m NOT a good little mermaid. I am a PREDATOR! Thus begins our story of a little mermaid who is anything but good. Sleep? Sleep is for guppies! This little mermaid is a TERROR of the DEEP. Cleaning up and putting toys away? This little mermaid doesn’t need TOYS. The ocean is her playground, and everything in it is afraid of HER. Brushing her teeth and flossing? Never! Well . . . maybe a little bit so they gleam like RAZOR-SHARP BLADES. Cleverly told through a back and forth between The Good Little Mermaid’s Guide to Bedtime and a mermaid who is resisting bedtime at every turn, this story will delight readers with its hilarious illustrations and adorable but VERY SCARY main character. Will she ever go to sleep? Read on to find out.

The Gulf
By Adam de Souza
240 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774880739 | Tundra Books
Ever since Oli found a pamphlet for a remote island commune as a kid, it’s all she can think about. Now that she’s nearing the end of high school, feeling frustrated with the mounting pressure to choose a career and follow a path she has no interest in, the desire to escape it all has been steadily increasing. Everything comes to a head when Oli’s relationship with her best friend goes south and she claps back at a school bully with more than just words. Oli flees to find the commune on a Gulf Island off the coast of Vancouver, taking with her Milo, who can’t help but hide his feelings behind the safety of a video camera, and Alvin, a shy teen who sees more than he lets on. Behind them trails Liam, Oli’s ex-best-friend and sometimes love interest, who wants to apologize for the way things went down. All four are grappling with a world that cannot be changed . . . and simply trying to find their place in it. This YA anti-coming-of-age road trip adventure, by talented up-and-coming comic artist Adam de Souza, captures at once the angst and humor of being a teen during a time of great transition.

The Gulf is also available today in paperback!

Unstoppable Us, Volume 2: Why the World Isn’t Fair
Written by Yuval Noah Harari
Illustrated by Ricard Zaplana Ruiz
208 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774884874 | Puffin Canada
Humans may have taken over the world, but what happened next? How did our hunter-gatherer ancestors become village farmers? Why were kingdoms and laws established? How did we go from being the rulers of Earth to the rulers of each other? And why isn’t the world fair? The answer to all of that is one of the strangest tales you’ll ever hear. And it’s a true story. From cultivating land and sharing resources to building pyramids and paying taxes, prepare to discover how humans created civilization – and suffered the consequences for it. Acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harari is back with another expertly crafted story of how humans became “unstoppable,” complete with maps, a timeline, and full-color illustrations that bring his dynamic unputdownable writing to life.

New in Paperback:

Bug in a Vacuum
By Mélanie Watt
96 Pages | Ages 5-9 | Tundra Books
ISBN 9781770496460 | Paperback
A bug flies through an open door into a house, through a bathroom, across a kitchen and bedroom and into a living room . . . where its entire life changes with the switch of a button. Sucked into the void of a vacuum bag, this one little bug moves through denial, bargaining, anger, despair and eventually acceptance – the five stages of grief – as it comes to terms with its fate. Will there be a light at the end of the tunnel?

Unstoppable Us, Volume 1: How Humans Took Over the World
Written by Yuval Noah Harari
Illustrated by Ricard Zaplana Ruiz
224 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Paperback
ISBN 9781774882238 | Puffin Canada
Even though we’ll never outrun a hungry lion or outswim an angry shark, humans are pretty impressive – and the most dominant species on the planet. So, how did we become “unstoppable”? The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you’ll ever hear. And it’s a true story. From learning to make fire and using the stars as guides to cooking meals in microwaves and landing on the moon, prepare to uncover the secrets and superpowers of how we evolved from our first appearances millions of years ago. Acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harari has expertly crafted an extraordinary story of how humans learned to not only survive but also thrive on Earth, complete with maps, a timeline, and full-color illustrations that bring his dynamic, unputdownable writing to life.

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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The debut children’s book from Yuval Noah Harari

YUVAL NOAH HARARI-HISTORIAN, PHILOSOPHER, AND AUTHOR OF SAPIENS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMANKIND – TO PUBLISH DEBUT CHILDREN’S BOOK WITH PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE U.S., CANADA, U.K. OCTOBER 2022

UNSTOPPABLE US, ILLUSTRATED BOOK SERIES FOR MIDDLE GRADE READERS, LOOKS AT THE EPIC TRUE STORY OF HUMANKIND

Volume One: How Humans Took Over the World focuses on the rise of early humans and will release in the U.S. on October 18, 2022

Toronto, ON (March 23, 2022)-Prominent historian, philosopher and author, Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind), will publish a new illustrated middle grade book this Fall 2022, announced globally today by Penguin Random House children’s groups in the US, UK and Canada. UNSTOPPABLE US: Volume One: How Humans Took Over the World will release on October 18, 2022.

UNSTOPPABLE US: How Humans Took Over the World is the first book in a projected four-volume series and will be released simultaneously by Bright Matter Books in the U.S., an imprint of Random House Children’s Books (RHCB) led by Tom Russell, VP & Publisher; Puffin Canada, an imprint of Tundra Book Group, the children’s division of Penguin Random House Canada; and on October 20th by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House Children’s Books UK.

Yuval Noah Harari brings his talents to the page for young readers for the very first time to share how humans eventually came to dominate Earth. And how – through triumph and growth, but also relentless, destructive voracity – they became truly unstoppable. From learning to make fire and using the stars as guides, to inventing stories and cooperating in huge numbers, the secrets of how our ancestors evolved millions of years ago will be uncovered, revealing the superpowers that brought us to ‘now,’ and how they were used to make us invincible…but also insatiable.

UNSTOPPABLE US is packed with full-color illustrations by Ricard Zaplana Ruiz that bring to life Harari’s dynamic, unputdownable writing.

Said Harari, “Unstoppable Us is the book that I wanted to read as a kid. It tells the history of humans since the time we were just apes living in the savannah, until the time we almost became god-like by flying in airplanes and spaceships. It’s a fun book – I hope young readers won’t want to put it down; and it’s also dead serious – aiming to preoccupy you with the questions it raises. Every question from why we have nightmares and why we like sugar, to why people believe in gods and why there are so many wars. Unstoppable Us has one key message for kids: The world in which we live didn’t have to be the way it is. People made it what it is. And people can change it.”

“Yuval has revolutionized how we think about ourselves and our place in the world, and Canadian readers have responded to his books for adults with incredible passion and enthusiasm,” said Publisher of Tundra Book Group Tara Walker. “We’re tremendously excited to be working with our partners in the United States and Britain in bringing Yuval’s ideas to young readers: to encourage young people’s interest in human sciences, to challenge them to think outside the box and to give them the tools they need to make positive change in the world.”

Elizabeth Kribs, Associate Publisher, Tundra Book Group, acquired Canadian rights from Yuval Noah Harari and will work closely with Sapienship, the social impact company co-founded by Itzik Yahav and Yuval Noah Harari in 2019, which is producing the series.

Follow the conversation online via #UnstoppableUs.

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About Prof. Yuval Noah Harari
Historian, philosopher, and the bestselling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, and Sapiens: A Graphic History. His books have sold over 35 million copies in 65 languages, and he is considered one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals today.

About Ricard Zaplana Ruiz
Ricard Zaplana Ruiz is an illustrator born in Barcelona in 1973, who has an extensive track record of illustrating books and magazines for children and young people, for brands such as Disney and Lego. He started his career in the field of animation and storyboarding for film and tv, working on films like The Impossible (J.A. Bayona, 2012), and he has been illustrating books for Random House Spain since 2014.

Unstoppable Us, Volume 1: How Humans Took Over the World
By Yuval Noah Harari
Illustrated by Ricard Zaplana Ruiz
208 Pages | Ages 8-12 | Hardcover
ISBN 9781774882214 | Puffin Canada
Release Date: October 18, 2022
Even though we’ll never outrun a hungry lion or outswim an angry shark, humans are pretty impressive – and the most dominant species on the planet. So, how did we become “unstoppable”? The answer to that is one of the strangest tales you’ll ever hear. And it’s a true story. From learning to make fire and using the stars as guides to cooking meals in microwaves and landing on the moon, prepare to uncover the secrets and superpowers of how we evolved from our first appearances millions of years ago. Acclaimed author Yuval Noah Harari has expertly crafted an extraordinary story of how humans learned to not only survive but also thrive on Earth, complete with maps, a timeline, and full-color illustrations that bring his dynamic, unputdownable writing to life.

Tundra Book Group