Lerner Publishing Group Showcase Spring 2024

You know what’s bonkers? Every time I write or type 2024 it feels fake. It feels like THE FUTURE. My kid graduates in 2024. I’ve known that fact since he was little. It always sounded so impossibly far away. I’m having a hard time understanding that that far away time is now here. I wrote about it on my mostly neglected personal blog. 2024. What a concept.

Pull out your TBR lists or get ready to add to the orders for books that stock your library or classroom shelves. Today I’m sharing with you new and forthcoming titles from Lerner Publishing Group. All annotations are from the publisher. I can’t wait to check out these books!

Pangu’s Shadow by Karen Bao (ISBN-13: 9781728477510 Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group/Carolrhoda Lab, Publication date: 02/06/2024, Ages 14-18)

There are no second chances in the Pangu Star System.

Ver and Aryl, apprentices at the most prestigious biology lab among the system’s moons, know this better than anyone. They’ve left behind difficult pasts and pinned their hopes for the future on Cal, their brilliant but demanding boss. But one night while working late in the lab, they find Cal sprawled on the floor, dead.

Murdered.

And they immediately become the prime suspects.

Their motives seem obvious. Ver, who left her home moon to study the life-threatening disease wracking her body, had a hopeless attachment to Cal that could’ve become twisted by jealousy. Aryl, on the other hand, clashed with workaholic Cal because she valued more in her life than research.

To clear their names, Ver and Aryl put aside their mutual suspicion and team up to investigate Cal’s death. As they search for the real murderer, they uncover secrets that have shaped all of Pangu’s moons… and must decide what kind of future they really want.

The Color of Sound by Emily Barth Isler (ISBN-13: 9781728487779 Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group/Carolrhoda Books Publication date: 03/05/2024, Ages 10-14)

Twelve-year-old Rosie is a musical prodigy whose synesthesia allows her to see music in colors.

Her mom has always pushed her to become a concert violinist, but this summer Rosie refuses to play, wanting a “normal” life. Forced to spend the summer with her grandparents, Rosie is excited to meet another girl her age hanging out on their property. The girl is familiar, and Rosie quickly pieces it together: somehow, this girl is her mother, when her mother was twelve.

With help from this glitch in time—plus her grandparents, an improv group, and a new instrument—Rosie comes to understand her mother, herself, and her love of music in new ways.

Cruzita and the Mariacheros by Ashley Granillo (ISBN-13: 9798765608500 Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group/Carolrhoda Books Publication date: 04/02/2024, Ages 10-14)

Cruzita is going to be a pop star. All she has to do is win a singing contest at her favorite theme park and get famous. But she can’t go to the theme park this summer. Instead, she has to help out at her family’s bakery, which has been struggling ever since Tío Chuy died. Cruzita’s great-uncle poured his heart into the bakery—the family legacy—and now that he’s gone, nothing is the same.

When Cruzita’s not rolling uneven tortillas or trying to salvage rock-hard conchas, she has to take mariachi lessons, even though she doesn’t know how to play her great-grandpa’s violin and she’s not fluent in Spanish. At first, she’s convinced her whole summer will be a disaster. But as she discovers the heart and soul of mariachi music, she realizes that there’s more than one way to be a star―and more than one way to carry on a legacy.

Just Another Story: A Graphic Migration Account by Ernesto Saade (ISBN-13: 9798765623367 Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group/Graphic Universe, Publication date: 04/02/2024, Ages 12+)

“This is the story of Carlos and Elena, the story of thousands, the story of my country . . . This is just another story.”

When Carlos was nineteen years old, his mother decided to leave her life in El Salvador for a new start in the United States. Reluctant to follow, but unwilling to let his mother go without him, Carlos joined her on the journey north. During their trip through Mexico and into the US, they experienced the risks and fears countless people from Central American countries have faced while migrating to different lands. Ten years later, Carlos shared these memories with his cousin, cartoonist Ernesto Saade. The result of their conversation is Just Another Story: A Graphic Migration Account. This stirring and thoughtful graphic work goes beyond headlines and statistics to provide a powerful individual account of migration.

“Until now, the story of Carlos was diluted between thousands and thousands of similar stories (or infinitely worse ones). However, this doesn’t detract from his story or anyone else’s. They’re not numbers or statistics but individuals whose lives are a reflection of serious problems in the region. This is the story of Carlos and Elena, the story of thousands, the story of my country . . . This is just another story.”

Eyes Open by Lyn Miller-Lachmann (ISBN-13: 9798765610114 Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group/Carolrhoda Lab, Publication date: 05/07/2024, Ages 14-18)

Portugal, 1967. Sónia thinks she knows what her future holds. She’ll become a poet, and together she and her artist boyfriend, Zé Miguel, will rise above the government restrictions that shape their lives. The restrictions on what Sónia can do and where she can go without a man’s permission. The restrictions on what music she can enjoy, what books she can read, what questions she can ask.

But when Zé Miguel is arrested for anti-government activities and Sónia’s family’s restaurant is shut down, Sónia’s plans are upended. No longer part of the comfortable middle class, she’s forced to leave school and take a low-paying, grueling, dangerous job. She thought she understood the dark sides of her world, but now she sees suffering she never imagined.

Without the protection of her boyfriend or her family, can Sónia find a way to fight for justice?

Hotelitor: Luxury-Class Defense and Hospitality Unit by Josh Hicks (ISBN-13: 9798765623350 Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group/Graphic Universe, Publication date: 05/07/2024, Ages 12+)

Take a trip aboard Hotelitor: the finest hospitality craft in its colony, equipped with jet feet, a hyperspace engine, and single, double, and adjoining rooms.

When a giant alien attacks the ship, Hotelitor’s surviving guests and staff find themselves stranded in deep space. There, 18-year-old intern Anna Greene must take charge. Alongside her fellow entry-level service workers, she’ll try to control the chaos while rival factions emerge, wealthy VIPs seize hotel resources, and the musician-in-residence develops a literal cult following. As Anna and her friends search for a way home, shocking discoveries about Hotelitor’s owners await them—if another giant alien doesn’t smash the crew first.

Filed under: new books