At Tundra Books, we want you to get to know and love our authors as much as you know and love their books. Our creator spotlight series will introduce you to the people behind some of your favorite titles . . . this week, say hello to Lourdes Heuer!
About the Author:
LOURDES HEUER is a children’s book author and poet. She was born in Spain to Cuban immigrant parents, then moved to the United States in 1984. She holds an MFA in Writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and is an Associate Professor of English at Broward College. She lives in South Florida with her husband, son and three dogs.
Q&A with Lourdes:
If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
Washington, D.C. Living in a brownstone in D.C: that’s the dream.
What’s one thing that can instantly make your day better?
My son.
Which meal is your favorite: breakfast, lunch, or dinner?
Do you remember any of your birthday wishes from when you were a child?
I do remember one, but I can’t tell you what it was: it hasn’t come true, YET.
Books by Lourdes:
Esme’s Birthday Conga Line By Lourdes Heuer Illustrated by Marissa Valdez 76 Pages | Ages 6-9 | Paperback ISBN 9780735269453 | Tundra Books Esme lives with her grandparents on the uppermost floor of the topmost best building. It’s her birthday. Mimi and Pipo gave her a beautiful guitar. But they didn’t plan a birthday party. Esme thinks this is the way with grandparents. They don’t know about parties or piñatas or birthday cake. No problem! Esme is great at problem solving. With the help of her cat, El Toro, and a LOT of help from her neighbors in the topmost best building, the irrepressible Esme gets the birthday party of her dreams.
Keep an eye out for Troop Esme coming August 2024!
On This Airplane By Lourdes Heuer Illustrated by Sara Palacios 32 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Hardcover ISBN 9780735268609 | Tundra Books Someone travels solo, two travel as one, three return, and four set out. In this simple and moving book, a young family takes a plane to their new home. While onboard, they encounter all the people you meet on a plane: a bookworm, a businessperson, tourists, crying babies and daydreamers . . . all with their own stories and all heading somewhere special.
Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. These titles are now available in stores and online!
Don’t Want to Be Your Monster By Deke Moulton 304 Pages | Ages 10-14 | Hardcover ISBN 9781774880494 | Tundra Books Adam and Victor are brothers who have the usual fights over the remote, which movie to watch and whether or not it’s morally acceptable to eat people. Well, not so much eat . . . just drink a little blood. They’re vampires, hiding in plain sight with their eclectic yet loving family. Ten-year-old Adam knows he has a better purpose in his life (well, immortal life) than just drinking blood, but fourteen-year-old Victor wants to accept his own self-image of vampirism. Everything changes when bodies start to appear all over town, and it becomes clear that a vampire hunter may be on the lookout for the family. Can Adam and Victor reconcile their differences and work together to stop the killer before it’s too late?
Don’t Want to Be Your Monster is also available today in Audiobook!
New in Paperback:
Whose Poo? By Daisy Bird Illustrated by Marianna Coppo 44 Pages | Ages 3-7 | Paperback ISBN 9781774882689 | Tundra Books One day, Daddy Rat announces to his baby rats that he’ll be taking them to the zoo . . . but only if they’re good, which means no talking about poo! And yet, before the family can even leave the house, the two rascally siblings can’t help but wonder . . . what sort of poo would an astronaut do? Shiny, silver, space-age poo! Rocket-powered, weightless poo, and it spins round and round like a planet does, too! Head chefs, balloon sellers, blue whales . . . everyone and everything must have a unique poo, and the siblings simply have to stop and imagine each and every one (much to the chagrin of Daddy Rat, who is getting increasingly irritated with all the poo talk). Once the rats finally reach the zoo, things escalate, because of course each and every animal in the zoo must do a special kind of poo! Finally, Daddy Rat has simply had enough, and is forced to sit down and explain the facts to his curious kids. And when he thinks he may have gotten through to his youngsters, he encounters a surprising (and smelly) twist which will have little rats everywhere laughing out loud!
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.
July 27th is National Intern Day! To celebrate, we reached out to our colleagues here at Penguin Random House Canada, who were once interns, to learn more about their experiences and to share them and their fun memories with you! Happy National Intern Day to all interns past and present!
Megan Costa Internship: Publicity ’22 Currently: Marketing & Publicity Coordinator
“When I started my internship at PRHC I really didn’t know what to expect, but it was an incredible experience. I was able to develop my skills in marketing and publicity as well as assist on meaningful work and projects. I was given the freedom to take initiative to improve processes and workflow and opportunities to assist with author events and media. One of the biggest highlights of my internship was all the people I met along the way, especially those within my intern cohort. It was wonderful meeting other people who share a lot of interests as me (books!) who are also learning how to navigate the workplace for the first time. It’s a nice reminder that I’m not alone and I have a whole group of friends I can turn to who are going through similar things.”
Megan (right) and Olivia (middle) posing in front of the Penguin Classics mural with a fellow intern.
Olivia Carter Internship: Appetite Editorial ’22 Currently: Appetite Editorial Assistant
“I started as an intern at PRHC almost exactly a year ago. My personal experience was on the heels of another internship with a smaller Toronto publishing house. What I enjoyed at PRHC is that I was able to expand so many different skills that I wasn’t previously exposed to. The fast-paced nature of our jobs means a lot of learning-as-we-go and the opportunity to try your hand at many different tasks. I learned more in my six month internship than I did previously in a year and a half of publishing school and interning elsewhere. The most valuable part of the experience was sharing it with the other interns in my cohort. We became close friends, and we still rely on each other; especially those of us who are still with the company. I would have had a much harder time if I didn’t have the other interns to learn and grow with. They truly make the entire experience, and your cohort brings the added benefit of learning what other imprints and departments are like. It’s a very well-rounded internship program, and I’m very grateful for the friends I made through it.”
“I was chosen to be a Kids Marketing & Publicity intern at Tundra Books for Summer/Fall of 2022 and I’ve been here ever since! I came into the internship knowing I wanted to work in kids publishing, I just didn’t know if I wanted to work in marketing or publicity. The internship was phenomenal in a way that I got to experience the day to day of each of the different directions and make a decision from there. The kids M&P team is also fabulous. When I first started, the team consisted of Sylvia Chan, Samantha Devotta and Evan Munday and then grew when Anthony de Ridder and Julia Wigdor joined shortly after. They all welcomed me with open arms, and now I never want to leave. I’m one of the few people that didn’t live in Toronto for the duration of the internship (where the Penguin Random House Canada offices are), but I was able to fly in for a few days and meet everyone in person. I got to meet my close team and a few people from my intern cohort, and my team even threw a little pizza party to welcome me in person. It really made me feel like part of the team.”
Stephanie (bottom right) with the Kids Marketing & Publicity team celebrating Narwhalidays!
Charlotte Nip Internship: Appetite Editorial and Lifestyle Marketing ’19 Currently: Marketing Coordinator
“I’m so grateful for my internship at Penguin Random House Canada, and I cannot express how it’s opened my eyes and publishing doors. It can be daunting to not know anyone or anything when you first work in publishing, but my internship at Appetite by Random House (an imprint of PRHC) has been one of the most meaningful and fulfilling experiences, introducing me to different industry professionals across all facets of publishing. I’ve been able to learn from incredible managers, both in editorial and marketing, meet/work alongside the fabulous authors we acquire, and connect with a cohort of interns who have become my closest friends and work wives. Happy Intern Day to my fellow ex-interns!”
“When I started my editorial internship at Tundra in November 2014, I had no idea where I wanted to end up in the industry. By the time I finished my internship six months later, I knew that no matter what department I fell into, I wanted to be at Tundra. It was my second of three internships and it was the only one where I truly felt like I was part of team – from reading slush pile and writing reader’s reports to helping out at the OLA Super Conference and all the little things in between, I fit right in. I loved the people (my internship supervisor, Sylvia, is now my boss!) and the gorgeous books and being offered a position as an associate publicist in September 2017 was a dream come true.”
Sam (right) recreating the look of the character named after her from If I Had a Gryphon.
“I was luckily chosen to be a Publicity Intern at Tundra Books and it was such a fun experience! I followed Kate Newman (currently at Indigo) and Pamela Osti (currently at Harlequin) around, helping with tasks, and even preparing for Tundra’s 40th anniversary! Right away, they could see that I liked art and design and had me designing press releases and posters. I learned a lot about children’s book publicity and event planning and made many new friends that are still in the industry today. The former Publisher at Tundra Books, Kathy Lowinger, would arrange these bookseller lunches where our entire team would go pick up lunch and visit a bookstore to chat with the owner and booksellers. I remember getting to go once, we picked up fish and chips and headed to Mabel’s Fables Children’s Bookstore. We were all sitting in a circle eating and chatting about books and the publishing industry!”
Continue the National Intern Day celebration with Friends Like These by Meg Rosoff!
Friends Like These By Meg Rosoff 208 Pages | Ages 14+ | Paperback ISBN 9781774881101 | Tundra Books New York City. Summer 1983. A summer internship in New York was meant to be everything Beth wanted. But from the moment she arrives in the city she feels wrong: wrong hair, terrible clothes, defective smile, too obviously a virgin. Sharing a hot, cockroach-filled apartment with a couple falling out of love completes the dream picture. Then she meets her fellow interns: ambitious out-of-towner Dan, preppy rich boy Oliver, and Edie – a beautiful, brittle, magnetic, instant best friend. Irresistible people are like gravity. You can’t help being pulled towards them – can you?
Tuesdays with Tundra is an ongoing series featuring our new releases. This title is now available in stores and online!
Megabat Megastar By Anna Humphrey Illustrated by Kris Easler 192 Pages | Ages 7-10 | Hardcover ISBN 9780735271661 | Tundra Books Daniel’s allowance is not going to cover the cost to fix his dad’s phone screen, which he and Megabat broke. And he is out of ideas. Megabat has a GREAT idea: become famous! Famous people have lots of money. Daniel is also grounded, and being stuck inside is pretty boring. Megabat has no time to spend with bored Daniel, he’s too busy learning the skill that will make him famous and rich. Daniel really doesn’t like Megabat’s new catchphrase, or his fancy new hairdo. Megabat will show him! When Megabat takes things too far and ruins Daniel’s mom’s dinner party with his “magic show,” chaos ensues . . . and Daniel is not too happy. And Megabat learns there are some things that are more important than fame and riches. Kris Easler’s adorable illustrations paired with Anna Humphrey’s hilarious text make for another unforgettable Megabat adventure, one that will appeal to Megabat fans and newcomers!
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.
The start of summer means the start of spooky season. There’s no better way to spend your summer evenings than to spend them reading scary stories around the campfire or with a bowl of popcorn watching horror movies. If these things sound up your alley, then we have the recommendations for you.
Go Hunt Me By Kelly deVos 320 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780593204856 | Razorbill Alex Rush is ready for the trip of a lifetime. She and her friends have made some creepily awesome films together throughout high school, so with only a few months left before they go their separate ways for college, they’re determined to make the best one yet: an epic short film that reimagines the story of Dracula, filmed on location at a remote castle in Romania. But when they get there, it’s not quite the majestic setting they planned for. Menacing weapons line the walls, the twisted halls are easy to get lost in, and with no connection to the outside world, the group is unexpectedly off the grid. After just a few hours spent under its roof, Alex and her friends have no trouble imagining how this dark, terrifying castle inspired one of the most enduring horror novels of all time. Only soon they no longer have to use their imaginations to understand the location’s terrifying history – just as they get the film’s first shot rolling, one of Alex’s friends disappears, and she’s nearly certain she saw a cloaked stranger lurking in the shadows. As more members of the group begin to meet an untimely demise, Alex is desperate to stop the bloodshed, even if it means facing a monster she never thought would be let loose.
House of Ash and Bone By Joel A. Sutherland 336 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover ISBN 9781774880968 | Tundra Books Release Date: September 5, 2023 Seventeen-year-old Josephine Jagger is a talented writer with special abilities she doesn’t fully understand. Over the years she has developed methods to cope with the voices she hears in her head, but the old house her family has inherited in Vermont makes Josephine question what’s real and what’s not more than anything she’s ever encountered before. It’s filled with shadows, and whispers, and the unshakable feeling of being watched. Josephine then catches her first glimpse of a shadowy woman with long hair, pale skin, an impossibly wide smile and hollow pits for eyes. Her name is Dorcas, the ghost of a witch who died three hundred years ago. She has summoned the family to Vermont to ensnare them – then consume them – in order to rise from the grave and live again . . .
Hell Followed With Us By Andrew Joseph White 448 Pages | Ages 14+ | Paperback ISBN 9781682635636 | Peachtree Teen Sixteen-year-old trans boy Benji is on the run from the cult that raised him – the fundamentalist sect that unleashed Armageddon and decimated the world’s population. Desperately, he searches for a place where the cult can’t get their hands on him, or more importantly, on the bioweapon they infected him with. But when cornered by monsters born from the destruction, Benji is rescued by a group of teens from the local Acheson LGBTQ+ Center, affectionately known as the ALC. The ALC’s leader, Nick, is gorgeous, autistic, and a deadly shot, and he knows Benji’s darkest secret: the cult’s bioweapon is mutating him into a monster deadly enough to wipe humanity from the earth once and for all. Still, Nick offers Benji shelter among his ragtag group of queer teens, as long as Benji can control the monster and use its power to defend the ALC. Eager to belong, Benji accepts Nick’s term . . . until he discovers the ALC’s mysterious leader has a hidden agenda, and more than a few secrets of his own.
In Nightfall By Suzanne Young 384 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback ISBN 9780593487587 | Delacorte Press Theo and her brother, Marco, threw the biggest party of the year. And got caught. Their punishment? Leave Arizona to spend the summer with their grandmother in the rainy beachside town of Nightfall, Oregon – population 846 souls. The small town is cute, when it’s not raining, but their grandmother is superstitious and strangely antisocial. Upon their arrival she lays out the one house rule: always be home before dark. But Theo and Marco are determined to make the most of their summer, and on their first day they meet the enigmatic Minnow and her friends. Beautiful and charismatic, the girls have a magnetic pull that Theo and her brother can’t resist. But Minnow and her friends are far from what they appear. And that one rule? Theo quickly realizes she should have listened to her grandmother. Because after dark, something emerges in Nightfall. And it doesn’t plan to let her leave.
Saint Juniper’s Folly By Alex Crespo 304 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover ISBN 9781682635773 | Peachtree Teen For Jaime, returning to the Vermont town of Saint Juniper means returning to a past he’s spent eight years trying to forget. After shuttling between foster homes, he hopes to make something out of this fresh start. But every gossip in town already knows his business, and with reminders of his past everywhere, he seeks out solitude into the nearby woods – Saint Juniper’s Folly – and does not return. For Theo, Saint Juniper means being stuck. He knows there’s more out there, but he’s scared to go find it. His senior year is going to be like all the rest, dull and claustrophobic. That is until he wanders into the Folly and stumbles on a haunted house with an acerbic yet handsome boy trapped – as in physically trapped – inside. For Taylor, Saint Juniper is a mystery. She tries to practice the magic her dad banned from the house after her mom, an accomplished witch, suddenly died. But without someone to guide her, she’s floundering. Then a wide-eyed teenager barges into her life, rambling about a haunted house and a trapped boy. He needs a witch. The Folly and its ghosts will draw these three teenagers together. But can they each face their demons to forge a bond strong enough to escape the Folly’s shadows?
Stranger Danger By Maren Stoffels 224 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback ISBN 9780593647448 | Underlined Don’t think you can get rid of me so fast. . . . No phones. No internet. No social media at all. That’s what it’s going to take to finally get serious about school and focus on exams. Nova, Vin, and Lotus even rented a farmhouse in the middle of nowhere so they won’t get distracted. After that, everything can go back to normal. But they aren’t alone. Someone is watching them from the forest. Someone who knows their secrets. Someone who wants revenge. And things will never be the same again.
The Island By Natasha Preston 336 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback ISBN 9780593481493 | Delacorte Press They said goodbye to their friends and family for the weekend. They weren’t counting on forever. Jagged Island: a private amusement park for the very rich – or the very influential. Liam, James, Will, Ava, Harper, and Paisley – social media influencers with millions of followers – have been invited for an exclusive weekend before the park opens. They’ll make posts and videos for their channels and report every second of their VIP treatment. When the teens arrive, they’re stunned: the resort is even better than they’d imagined. Their hotel rooms are unreal, the park’s themed rides are incredible, and the island is hauntingly beautiful. They’re given a jam-packed itinerary for the weekend. But soon they’ll discover that something’s missing from their schedule: getting off the island alive.
The Wicked Unseen By Gigi Griffis 228 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback ISBN 9780593644102 | Underlined From the moment Audre arrives in rural Pennsylvania, it’s clear she won’t fit in. After all, her nose ring, her horror movie obsession, and her family’s Ouija board collection aren’t likely to endear her to a town convinced there’s a secret Satanic cult conducting rituals in the nearby woods. When the preacher’s daughter and Audre’s crush, Elle, goes missing on Halloween weekend, the town is quick to point fingers in Audre’s direction. With the cops busy harassing her family for being nonbelievers and everyone else convinced demons are to blame, Audre realizes she might be the only person who can find her friend. But the deeper Audre digs, the weirder it gets. Has Elle fallen victim to a Satanic ritual, or is the town’s obsession with the occult covering up something even more sinister?
Those We Drown By Amy Goldsmith 416 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780593570098 | Delacorte Press It should have been the trip of a lifetime. When Liv lands an all-expenses-paid opportunity to study aboard the luxury cruise ship The Eos for a semester, she can’t believe her luck. Especially since it will offer her the chance to spend time with Will, her ex-best friend, who’s barely spoken to her since the night their relationship changed forever. But as soon as she steps on board, Liv realizes just how out of her depth she is. With Will, with the rest of the Seamester students – including the brittle and beautiful Constantine, who may be hiding his own ties to the Eos – and most of all, with the Sirens, three glamorous and mysterious influencers who seem to have the run of the ship. Liv quickly discovers that the only reason she was invited to join the trip is because another girl disappeared shortly after enrolling – and no one seems to know what happened to her. When further disappearances rock the ship and strange creatures begin haunting Liv’s dreams, she wonders: Is the Eos hiding a dark secret within its shadowy decks? The truth will come at a price . . . only, how much is Liv willing to pay?
Win Lose Kill Die By Cynthia Murphy 272 Pages | Ages 12+ | Paperback ISBN 9780593705476 | Delacorte Press Failure is fatal… At the historic Morton Academy, a school for high-achievers, everyone wants to be Head Girl and gain all the prestige and success that comes with the title. But when bodies start piling up, the students begin to worry that someone is too determined to take that crown. Liz, Taylor, Kat, Marcus and Cole all set out to discover what exactly is going on. Is it the secret society that they have sworn allegiance too? The history of a cult that plagues Morton Academy? Or even a greedy teacher? They need to find the truth…and quickly.
Hatchet Girls By Diana Rodriguez Wallach 336 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780593643419 | Delacorte Press When Mariella Morse accuses her boyfriend, Vik Gomez, of murdering her wealthy parents with an axe, the town is quick to believe her. It doesn’t help that Vik is caught standing over her parents’ bodies with blood on his hands, unable to remember anything about the night in question. But Vik’s sister, Tessa, knows that Vik would never be capable of such a gruesome crime. Haunted by the mistakes she made that led her family to move to Fall River, MA in the first place, she sets out to prove her brother’s innocence. Tessa’s search for answers will lead her into a sprawling, notoriously cursed forest, where she and Mariella must face a darkness that has lurked within their town since before the days of Lizzie Borden – the original axe murderess of Fall River.
Midnight at the Houdini By Delilah S. Dawson 368 Pages | Ages 12+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780593486795 | Delacorte Press Life has gone according to plan for Anna – she stays in the background, letting her sister, Emily, shine in the spotlight. But on Emily’s wedding night, Anna learns that her sister is moving away, abandoning her – and all their shared dreams. Devastated, Anna leaves the reception in the middle of a raging storm, taking shelter in a hotel she’s never seen before: the Houdini. The Houdini is a hotel unlike any other, with sumptuous velvet couches, marble tiled floors, secret restaurants, winding passageways, and an undercurrent of magic in the air. And when Anna meets Max, who has lived his entire life inside its walls, she’s captivated. For the first time in her life, Anna is center stage, in a place that anticipates her every desire, with a boy who only has eyes for her. But there’s a terrifying secret hidden in the Houdini. When the clock strikes midnight, Anna will be trapped there forever unless she can find a way to break free from its dreamlike magic. But will she be able to do it if it means leaving Max behind?
The Last Girls Standing By Jennifer Dugan 320 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780593532072 | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BFYR Sloan and Cherry. Cherry and Sloan. They met only a few days before masked men with machetes attacked the summer camp where they worked, a massacre that left the rest of their fellow counselors dead. Now, months later, the two are inseparable, their traumatic experience bonding them in ways no one else can understand. But as new evidence comes to light and Sloan learns more about the motives behind the ritual killing that brought them together, she begins to suspect that her girlfriend may be more than just a survivor – she may actually have been a part of it. Cherry tries to reassure her, but Sloan only becomes more distraught. Is this gaslighting or reality? Is Cherry a victim or a perpetrator? Is Sloan confused, or is she seeing things clearly for the very first time? Against all odds, Sloan survived that hot summer night. But will she survive what comes next?
The Spirit Bares Its Teeth By Andrew Joseph White 400 Pages | Ages 14+ | Hardcover ISBN 9780593527702 | Peachtree Teen Release Date: September 5, 2023 Mors vincit omnia. Death conquers all. London, 1883. The Veil between the living and dead has thinned. Violet-eyed mediums commune with spirits under the watchful eye of the Royal Speaker Society, and sixteen-year-old Silas Bell would rather rip out his violet eyes than become an obedient Speaker wife. According to Mother, he’ll be married by the end of the year. It doesn’t matter that he’s needed a decade of tutors to hide his autism; that he practices surgery on slaughtered pigs; that he is a boy, not the girl the world insists on seeing. After a failed attempt to escape an arranged marriage, Silas is diagnosed with Veil sickness – a mysterious disease sending violet-eyed women into madness – and shipped away to Braxton’s Finishing School and Sanitorium. The facility is cold, the instructors merciless, and the students either bloom into eligible wives or disappear. When the ghosts of missing students start begging Silas for help, he decides to reach into Braxton’s innards and expose its guts to the world – if the school doesn’t break him first.
