7 Comments

1. Laurie Beth Schneider  •  Sep 6, 2011 @12:02 am
   

   Interesting, Sheela. Thanks for doing this. Not many historical titles either, I bet.

   

   Sheela Chari Reply:
   September 7th, 2011 at 3:03 am

   @Laurie Beth Schneider, Hmm – must go back and check!

2. Tracy Abell  •  Sep 6, 2011 @9:49 am
   

   I really appreciate you breaking down the numbers this way, Sheela. It’s nice to see I’m not crazy for thinking there’s a HUGE amount of fantasy being published.

   Thank you again for all your (and Brian’s) efforts to bring us the latest info on new releases.

   

   Sheela Chari Reply:
   September 7th, 2011 at 3:05 am

   @Tracy Abell, Yes – there is a lot of fantasy out there. What surprised me is that there is substantially less straight mystery (i.e. no magical/paranormal elements).

3. Kimberley Griffiths Little  •  Sep 6, 2011 @10:19 am
   

   Fascinating break-down, thanks Sheela.

   I do know that Fall is typically the time for releasing new books by what the industry often calls the *heavy-hitters* – or the authors whose past books have been award-winners or bestsellers.

   Is it possible to get the numbers for Historicals listed in the break-down? I’d love to see that.

   And no wonder I’m burned out on fantasy!! LOL!

   

   Sheela Chari Reply:
   September 7th, 2011 at 3:08 am

   @Kimberley Griffiths Little, Will report back!

4. brian_ohio  •  Sep 6, 2011 @11:55 am
   

   Cool stats!

   super-team?

5. Sheela Chari  •  Sep 7, 2011 @3:06 am
   

   Of course! And the super refers to you – I know all about that cape. Don’t deny it.

   

   brian_ohio Reply:
   September 7th, 2011 at 11:25 am

   @Sheela Chari, The cape goes perfect with my kilt.

6. Wendy S  •  Sep 7, 2011 @11:08 am
   

   My mind is bending over the fact that there were only 12 multicultis. Would it be possible to see the list?

   

   Sheela Chari Reply:
   September 7th, 2011 at 1:20 pm

   @Wendy S, Yes. Here it is – I kept a separate list just for those titles because I have a special interest in them. I do want to repeat that there is no really fool-proof way to guarantee that the list is complete. Every month, we do miss titles because release dates change, books don’t appear in the normal places at their appointed times (Amazon, Indiebound, Publishers Weekly, etc), and as always, human error. Also, some books may have multicultural protagonists, but from their descriptions, it may not appear obvious (and in a way, I welcome that).

   So with all those caveats aside, I do think even it’s overwhelmingly clear how few multicultural books there are in the past year.

   Here’s what I have. I did make a slight error. There are 16 in total, but the first four are from June-Aug of 2010. From Sep 2010 – 2011, the number is 12.

   ♦ THE ACCIDENTAL ADVENTURES OF INDIA MCALLISTER (Holt) – Charlotte Agell. Fourth-grader, India McAllister, adopted as a baby from China, searches for identity in a small Maine town.

   ♦ THE OTHER HALF OF MY HEART (Delacorte) – Sundee T. Frazier. From Coretta Scott King award recipient, biracial twins enter an African-American pageant.

   ♦ 90 MILES TO HAVANA (Roaring Brook Press) – Enrique Flores-Galbis. Julian, a young Cuban boy, experiences a violent revolution and watches mobs throw out his family’s furniture and move into their home. For his safety, his parents send him to a refugee camp in Miami, where he tries to avoid the powerful camp bullies (“the big eat the small”), waits for his parents, and parts with his two older brothers who are sent away to a harsh orphanage in Denver. Flores-Galbris draws on his own experience as a child refugee from Cuba.

   ♦ SAMURAI KIDS #1: WHITE CRANE (Candlewick) – Sandy Fussell. First book in a new marshal arts series. Niya Moto is the only one-legged samurai kid in Japan, famous for falling flat on his face in the dirt. The one school that will accept him is the Cockroach Ryu, led by Ki-Yaga., a man known for taking in kids that the world has judged harshly. But can the ragtag Cockroaches make the treacherous journey to the Samurai Trainee Games, never mind take on the all-conquering Dragons?

   ♦ THE PORCUPINE YEAR (HarperCollins) – Louise_Erdrich, This sequel to The Birchbark House (Hyperion, 1999) and The Game of Silence (HarperCollins, 2005) continues the story of Omakayas, an Ojibwe girl who in 1852 is now 12 winters old.

   ♦ HOW TIA LOLA LEARNED TO TEACH (THE TIA LOLA STORIES) ( Knopf) – Julia Alvarez. Tía Lola has been invited to teach Spanish at her niece and nephew’s elementary school. But Miguel wants nothing to do with the arrangement. On the other hand, Miguel’s little sister, Juanita, can’t wait to introduce her colorfully dressed aunt with her migrating beauty mark to all her friends at school—that is, if she can stop getting distracted long enough to remember to do so. Before long, Tía Lola is organizing a Spanish treasure hunt and a Carnaval fiesta at school. Will Miguel be willing to join the fun? Will Juanita get her head out of the clouds and lead her classmates to victory in the treasure hunt? Sequel to HOW TIA LOLA CAME TO VISIT STAY.

   ♦ WE COULD BE BROTHERS (Scholastic Press) – Derrick Barnes (Author), In this much anticipated middle grade novel by author Derrick Barnes (Ruby & the Booker Boys) two thirteen- year-old African-American boys become friends during a three day stint in an after school suspension. They were both involved in two unrelated incidents with the same person, the resident menace at Alain Locke Middle, Tariq Molten.

   ♦ BLACK PIONEERS: HOME IS WITH OUR FAMILY (Disney*Hyperion) – Joyce Hansen. Now that she is turning thirteen, Maria Peterson envisions new adult prestige and responsibility, like attending abolitionist meetings and listening to inspiring speakers such as Sojourner Truth. The year also brings trials and tribulations for her family and friends, however. The City of New York wants to turn her community’s settlement into a park. Now that Maria has made a new friend, she’s even more determined to stay put. But soon Maria discovers that her friend has a problem even more dire than being thrown out of her home. Will Maria be able to help her? And what will happen to her own family’s home? Hansen is a four-time Coretta Scott King Honor recepient.

   ♦ THE STORM BEFORE ATLANTA (Random House) – Karen Schwabach. At a time when most people have grown weary of the war between the states, two young children are desperate to find their way to the battlefields. Jeremy DeGroot wants nothing more than to join a troop as a drummer boy. For Dulcie, a runaway slave, freedom means she must head directly toward the fighting in the hopes that she’ll become “contraband,” that is, property of the Union troops. Both Jeremy and Dulcie find a place with the 107th New York Volunteer Regiment and even start to forge a friendship. But all that is threatened when they keep crossing paths with the mysterious Charlie, a young Confederate soldier, who may look like the enemy but feels more like a friend.

   ♦ THE STAR MAKER (HarperCollins) – Laurence Yep. If only Artie had kept his mouth shut. But his mean cousin Petey was putting him down, so Artie started bragging. Now he has to come up with enough money to buy firecrackers for all his cousins by the Lunar New Year. Luckily, there’s one person he can count on . . . Uncle Chester! Newbery Honor Book author Laurence Yep celebrates family and Chinese New Year traditions in this story of a boy and his uncle who discover that age doesn’t matter when it comes to helping out a friend.

   ♦ THE GREAT WALL OF LUCY WU – Wendy Shang (Author), Lucy Wu, aspiring basketball star and interior designer, is on the verge of having the best year of her life. She’s ready to rule the school as a sixth grader and take over the bedroom she has always shared with her sister. In an instant, though, her plans are shattered when she finds out that Yi Po, her beloved grandmother’s sister, is coming to visit for several months — and is staying in Lucy’s room. Lucy’s vision of a perfect year begins to crumble, and in its place come an unwelcome roommate, foiled birthday plans, and Chinese school with the awful Talent Chang

   ♦ Flat Stanley’s Worldwide Adventures #7: The Flying Chinese Wonders (HarperCollins) – Jeff Brown. Ouch! Stanley accidentally caused twin acrobats Yin and Yang to take a tumble, right before their Chinese New Year show. Yang’s foot is broken—but luckily, Flat Stanley is flexible enough to take his place. To make up for his mistake, Stanley travels to China to help out—but can he learn all their amazing tricks in time?

   ♦ The Detention Club (Balzer + Bray) – David Yoo. Detention. The best worst thing to happen to Peter Lee? Peter and his best friend, Drew, used to be so cool (or, at least, not total outcasts) in elementary school. But now they’re in middle school, where their extensive mica collection and prowess at kickball have earned them a new label: losers. Then Peter attracts the unwanted attention of the school bullies, and his plan to become popular through his older sister, the practically perfect Sunny, backfires. Things go from bad to worse when Peter gets detention. But what at first seems to spell his utter doom turns into an unlikely opportunity for making friends and influencing people.

   ♦ Stir It Up: A Novel (Scholastic) – Ramin Ganeshram. Thirteen-year-old Anjali’s life is rich with the smell of curry from her parents’ roti shop and an absolute passion for food. More than anything, Anjali wants to be a chef who competes on a kids’ cooking reality TV show. But Anjali must keep her wish a secret from her family, who thinks Anjali’s passions are beneath her. Thank goodness for Deema, Anjali’s grandmother, whose insight and love can push past even the oldest family beliefs. Woven with recipes that cook up emotions and actual culinary recipes that make food.

   ♦ Samurai Kids #3: Shaolin Tiger (Candlewick) – Sandy Fussell. The White Tiger Temple is under threat. To help the Shaolin monks, Sensei KiYaga and the whole gang of samurai kids— from Niya Moto, the boy with one leg to Taji, the boy who is blind— embark on a perilous journey across the Sea of Japan to China. But soon they discover that getting there is only half the battle. A great danger awaits them: a former student of Sensei named Qing-Shen, China’s Warrior, now the most skilled soldier in the Middle Kingdom. But Qing-Shen is also a man with a vendetta against his onetime teacher. Could there be anyone more dangerous? The samurai kids must train in the ways of the Shaolin monks before facing him. But will they be able to protect the temple and their beloved Sensei? Third in the series.

   ♦ ALVIN HO: ALLERGIC TO DEAD BODIES, FUNERALS, AND OTHER FATAL CIRCUMSTANCES – Lenore Look (Author), LeUyen Pham (Illustrator), Everyone’s favorite neurotic second grader is back, in the most touching Alvin Ho book to date. In this fourth book in the Alvin Ho series, Alvin is facing something truly scary: the idea that someone he loves might die. When Alvin’s GungGung loses his best friend, Alvin (gulp) volunteers to go with him to the funeral. Lenore Look and LeUyen Pham touch on a more serious subject in this Alvin book, but it’s still filled with the same humor and laugh-out-loud antics fans have come to expect from the series.

   And if someone notices that I’m forgetting a title, please let me know. That would be really helpful.

   I’ll have more stats on historical fiction soon.

   

   Sheela Chari Reply:
   September 7th, 2011 at 1:23 pm

   And oh my goodness, I forgot my own! Vanished (Disney Hyperion) – July 2011. Okay, I’m number 13. The lucky one!

7. Miss K  •  Sep 11, 2011 @3:27 pm
   

   Thanks for that expanded list of multicultural titles. I’m reading “We Could Be Brothers” right now.

   PS. Love your website’s title!