New Kids' and YA Books: Week of February 21, 2022 - Publishers Weekly

Here we round up new and forthcoming children's titles, including a YA trilogy opener, a graphic novel about a housecat, a novel in verse about a girl coming of age, a picture book about different domiciles, and many more.

Wakers by Orson Scott Card. S&S/McElderry, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-9619-3. In this launch of the Side Step trilogy, Card (Duplex) explores metaphysics and alternate timelines when a group of teens wake in an empty cloning facility.

Housecat Trouble by Mason Dickerson. Random House Graphic, $12.99; ISBN 978-0-593-17345-9. Using a soft palette and rendering facial expressions comically emotive, debut creator Dickerson mixes magical elements in this graphic novel about a housecat named Buster defending his home against invading monsters.

Golden Girl by Reem Faruqi. HarperCollins, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-304475-3. A teen of Pakistani descent faces her penchant for "borrowing" things and navigates puberty-related changes in Faruqi's (Amira's Picture Day) middle grade novel in verse.

If You Live Here by Kate Gardner, illus. by Christopher Silas Neal. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-286532-8. This lighthearted picture book meditation on dwelling places spotlights a range of homes with fanciful requirements for their denizens.

Somewhere by Robie H. Harris, illus. by Armando Mariño. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-0735-4. Harris (It's Not the Stork!) writes a picture book about experimenting with independence, when a child and their father explore a park separately. Mariño's paintings give the story visual richness.

Extasia by Claire Legrand. HarperCollins/Tegen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-269663-2. The Handmaid's Tale meets The Craft in this feminist YA standalone novel from Legrand (the Empirium trilogy), a fusion of horror and queer romantic fantasy that advocates unity, self-empowerment, and societal change.

Only a Monster by Vanessa Len. HarperTeen, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-302464-9. The protagonist's multi-ethnic identity and status as a half-human, half-monster launches a moral struggle in this YA fantasy trilogy opener.

Unseen Magic by Emily Lloyd-Jones. Greenwillow, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-305798-2. "The Tea shop tended to vanish" begins Lloyd-Jones's (The Bone Houses) middle grade debut, immediately immersing readers in the magic-infused town of Aldermere, Calif., situated at the edge of a redwood forest where in order to avoid releasing dangerous magic, the town's residents follow a number of rules.

Map of Flames by Lisa McMann. Putnam, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-593-32540-7. In this middle grade novel, a decade and a half after their supernatural criminal parents stole a fortune, five children raised on a tropical island enter the mainstream world and contend with their parents' complicated legacy.

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-78086-7. In Axie Oh's (XOXO) transporting historical YA fantasy novel based off the Korean folktale "The Tale of Shim Cheong," a village throws a maiden into the sea each year in hopes of appeasing a violent sea god who wreaks devastating natural disasters.

How to Say Hello to a Worm: A First Guide to Outside by Kari Percival. Rise x Penguin Workshop, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-593-22679-7. In this deceptively simple debut, a group of children plant a garden in raised beds and watch it grow. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.

League of Liars by Astrid Scholte. Putnam, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-11237-3. Scholte (The Vanishing Deep) blends legal thriller and action novel in an exploration of morality's gray areas in this magic-infused YA novel.

Solitary Animals by Joshua David Stein, illus. by Dominique Ramsey. Rise x Penguin Workshop, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-38443-5. This nonfiction picture book by Stein (The Invisible Alphabet), featuring debut artist Ramsey's radiant digital animal portraits, shows that not all species appreciate a crowd.

The Problem with Pajamas by Lauren Stohler. Atheneum, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-9343-8. In this humorous picture book, the protagonist is eager to get out of their day clothes and into something more comfortable.

A Pandemic Is Worldwide by Sarah L. Thomson, illus. by Taia Morley. HarperCollins, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-308626-5. This installment of the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science picture book series explains pandemics, viruses, and vaccines in clear, patient terms.

The Turning Pointe by Vanessa L. Torres. Knopf, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-42613-5. Set in 1983 Minneapolis, Torres's sprawling YA debut is told by 16-year-old Rosa Dominguez, a passionate, Prince-obsessed Mexican American dancer whose family is dealing with change.

Hat Cat by Troy Wilson, illus. by Eve Coy. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-1366-9. An elderly man's ritual of feeding squirrels in the park is interrupted when one day he finds a kitten on his bench. Coy contributes warm, soft-edged images in colored pencil and watercolor.

For more children's and YA titles on sale throughout the month of February, check out PW's full On-Sale Calendar.