YA/Teen Book Buzz Spring 2020

Presented by: School Library Journal
Event Date: Thursday, April 23, 2020

Kiddos might not be inside your libraries right now, but when they return, you’ll want to make sure your shelves are brimming with excitement! Join SLJ Senior Editor Kimberly Fakih and publishing insiders to learn about new and forthcoming books for your teen and YA readers, from gripping fantasy and historical fiction to evergreen coming-of-age stories. Featured titles include:

Somebody Give This Heart a Pen In a powerful debut, rising star Sophia Thakur brings her spoken word performance to the page. Thakur brings us a stirring collection of coming-of-age poems exploring issues of identity, relationships, fear, loss, and joy. From youth to school to family life to falling in love and falling back out again—the poems draw on the author’s experience as a young mixed-race woman trying to make sense of a lonely and complicated world.

We Are Not Free From New York Times best-selling and acclaimed author Traci Chee comes We Are Not Free, the collective account of a tight-knit group of young Nisei, second-generation Japanese American citizens, whose lives are irrevocably changed by the mass U.S. incarcerations of World War II.

The Dark Tide Every year on St. Walpurga's Eve, Caldella’s Witch Queen lures a boy back to her palace. An innocent life to be sacrificed on the full moon to keep the island city from sinking. Lina Kirk is convinced her brother is going to be taken this year. To save him, she enlists the help of Thomas Lin, the boy she secretly loves, and the only person to ever escape from the palace.

Panelists

Sawako Shirota, Assistant Manager of Library Marketing, Candlewick Press

Amanda Acevedo, Marketing Manager, School & Library, HMH Books for Young Readers

Taylor McBroom, Marketing Specialist, School & Library, HMH Books for Young Readers

Margaret Coffee, Senior Manager, Schools and Libraries, Sourcebooks

Moderator

Kimberly Fakih, Senior Editor, School Library Journal

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