drunken hookup is suddenly causing havoc in Will’s and Tia’s lives, especially after
they are both elected Biggest Flirts for
the yearbook. The drumming thread in
Echols’s (Dirty Little Secret) romance, first
in the Superlatives series, gives Tia and
Will needed dimension—despite their
steamy instant connection, it’s hard to
buy into their banter as legitimate chemistry or dialogue. Most of the novel feels
like drama for drama’s sake, with Tia self-sabotaging her reputation for no real reason and Will dating another girl even as
he pursues Tia. Ages 14–up. Agent: Laura
Bradford, Bradford Literary Agency. (May)
Nonfiction
★ A Boy and a Jaguar
Alan Rabinowitz, illus by Cátia Chien.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $16.99 (32p) ISBN
978-0-547-87507-1
In his first book for children, conservationist and adult author Rabinowitz
frames his lifelong struggle with stuttering against his equally
long-held love of animals, which led to a career spent studying and
advocating for them. “I
am a stutterer,” he explains. “If I try to push
words out, my head and
body shake uncontrollably.” The first-person
present-tense narration creates an intimate
connection to the author’s pain as he is
placed “in a class for disturbed children,”
subjected to unsuccessful treatments, and
considered “broken” and disruptive by
teachers. With animals, however, his
words flow easily, and a young Alan promises a lonely jaguar at the Bronx Zoo: “If I
can ever find my voice, I will be their voice
and keep them from harm.” Shadowy
charcoal lines and the often-muted colors
of Chien’s paintings amplify Alan’s solitude, but also reflect the profound joy,
wonder, and healing he discovers studying
animals in the wild. It’s a candid and
deeply resonant account of a hard-fought
battle against societal stigma, and an embrace of one’s true talent and calling. Ages
4–8. Author’s agent: Anna Olswanger, Liza
Dawson Associates. Illustrator’s agent: Steven
Malk, Writers House. (May)
The Pilot and the Little Prince:
The Life of Antoine de Saint-
Exupéry
Peter Sís. FSG/Foster, $17.99 (48p) ISBN 978-
0-374-38069-4
Following biographies of Darwin and
Galileo, Sís celebrates legendary pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900–1944). As
in The Tree of Life, Sís supplements a main
narrative with time lines and insets,
wrapping squint-inducing italics around
dreamlike illustrations. Readers learn
about Saint-Exupéry’s fascination with
flight and roles as a mail and military pilot. The spreads allude to Méliès’ Le Voyage dans la lune and map Saint-Exupéry’s
North African mail routes, without examining WWI or colonial history. Sís crafts
expansive, nostalgic palimpsests, illustrating the hero’s adventures with precision ink dots on sepia ground, yet he
writes with emotional distance. Readers
may wonder why Saint-Exupéry’s father,
brother, and sister died young; why “
hostile nomads” objected to his Moroccan
outpost; why his wife has a Spanish name;
and how he and his
friends survived multiple
plane crashes. Sís recounts
astounding feats in an off-
hand tone (two fliers
landed their plane “on a
ledge” in the Andes, then
“rocked it until it went
over the edge and started
up”). Gorgeous, densely
imagined, yet fragmented in its telling,
this narrative will send readers beyond
The Little Prince to hear more of this
mind-boggling story. Ages 5–9. (May)
The Cosmobiography of Sun Ra:
The Sound of Joy Is Enlightening
Chris Raschka. Candlewick, $15.99 (40p)
ISBN 978-0-7636-5806-9
For jazz fans who welcomed Mysterious
Thelonious and John Coltrane’s Giant Steps,
Raschka profiles the uncategorizable mu-
sician Sun Ra. One century ago, in 1914,
“Sun Ra landed on Earth. Looking around,
he found himself in Birmingham, Ala-
bama.” Claiming to be from Saturn and
mystified by terrestrial customs, young
Herman (Sonny) Blount invented a new
name, learned to compose all manner of
music, and traveled the U.S. performing
and absorbing musical cultures. Raschka
pictures Sun Ra and his Arkestra orchestra
in chromatic gouache daubs and silhou-
ette-black lowlights, bringing to mind
Romare Bearden’s sultry palette and mel-
lifluous collages. Raschka acknowledges
the social and musical influences on the
innovative artist, noting Sun Ra’s surprise
that the “earthlings insisted on sorting
themselves into two varieties: the white
variety and the black variety” and Sun Ra’s
conscientious objector stance during
WWII (curiously, Raschka mentions Sun
Ra’s love of Egypt, but never the sun god
Ra). Although Raschka cannot fully con-
vey “the sound of joy” in a silent picture
book, he provides a selective list of record-
ings, encouraging readers to consider Sun
Ra’s nonconformity and genius alongside a
first listen to his polyphonic music. Ages
6–9. (May)
Separate Is Never Equal:
Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s
Fight for Desegregation
Duncan Tonatiuh. Abrams, $18.95 (40p) ISBN
978-1-4197-1054-4
Tonatiuh (Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote)
offers an illuminating account of a family’s hard-fought legal battle to desegregate California schools in the years before
Brown v. Board of Education. In 1944, after
years of laboring as a field worker, Sylvia
Mendez’s father leases his own farm in
Westminster, Calif. But even though
Mexican-born Mr. Mendez is a U.S. citizen and his wife is Puerto Rican, their
children are banned from the local public
school and told they must attend the inferior “Mexican school.” When all else fails,
the Mendezes and four other families file
a lawsuit. Readers will share Sylvia’s outrage as she listens to a district superintendent denigrate Mexicans (Tonatiuh drew
his words and other testimony from court
transcripts). Visually, the book is in keeping with Tonatiuh’s previous work, his
simplified and stylized shapes drawn from
Mexican artwork. He again portrays his
characters’ faces in profile, with collaged
elements of hair, fabric, and fibrous paper
lending an understated texture. An extensive author’s note provides historical context (including that Sylvia Mendez received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in
2011) and urges readers to make their
own voices heard. Ages 6–9. (May) ■
