Written by Lee Juck

Illustrated by Lee Jinhee

Translated from Korean by Stine Su Yon An

A beautiful picture book of cosmic dimensions about the tranquility and happiness that come from no longer feeling alone, by Korean singer-songwriter Lee Juck and award-winning illustrator Lee Jinhee.

A long, long time ago, in a far, far corner of the universe, there lived a lonely little star. One day, a comet appears—is this finally the star’s chance to make a friend? Inspired by Halley’s Comet, this picture book written by Korean singer-songwriter Lee Juck and illustrated by acclaimed artist Lee Jinhee is about the moments of connection—however brief or rare—that give us the joy and hope to shine bright across the vast universe.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-400-2

225 mm (W) x 266 mm (H) • 48 Pages • Hardcover with Jacket

Ages: 4-8

Publication Date: October 15, 2024

Written by Bruce Handy

Illustrated by Lisk Feng

From two-time New York Times Best Children’s Book author Bruce Handy, a luminous picture book that invites careful observation of light and shadow in the natural world, as well as in our own emotional landscape.

As the sun makes its daily journey across the sky, light comes down to illuminate our world. Moving and dancing along with this light come a variety of shadows—those cast by the sun and those cast by our feelings, minds, and memories. Here we follow a girl from dawn through dusk into night as she and her friends play with their shadows, take refuge in the shade of a large tree, and set out again for home in the violet glow of twilight.

With a lyrical text from Bruce Handy and dramatic, sensitive art from award-winning illustrator Lisk Feng, There Was a Shadow invites readers to look up and down, in and out—to notice the position of the sun and the corresponding length or shortness of shadows, as well as the subtle ways in which light and shadow reveal and obscure things both in the world and in ourselves.

With images that swell and overflow with light, this is a picture book that is sure to awe and delight.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-406-4

9 5/8” (W) x 11” (H) • 52 Pages • Hardcover with Jacket

Ages: 4-8

Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Written by Paola Quintavalle
Illustrated by Miguel Tanco

A delightful and inspiring picture book about making time for the little things that make life rich and beautiful, from author Paola Quintavalle and award-winning illustrator Miguel Tanco

Watching a flower grow. Taking time to say goodbye. Giving yourself the chance for another try. Holding hands and letting go. And welcoming the night when the moon is up.

These are all things for which we need to make time—things that involve both imagination and intention, even though they are ordinary. By sharing these small moments, this playful, conceptual book inspires us not to waste but to fill the precious time we have on our hands.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-408-8

6” (W) X 7.5” (H) • 56 Pages • Hardcover with Jacket

Ages: 4-8

Publication Date: August 27, 2024

Written by Mk Smith Despres

Illustrated by Hyewon Yum

A sad sack frog, who bemoans his inability to sing like a bird, discovers the vital role he's meant to play in his woodland home in this debut picture book from Mk Smith Despres, gorgeously illustrated by award-winning artist Hyewon Yum.

Every morning as the sun rises, Bernardo the frog loves greeting the day by listening to the beautiful birdsong that fills the woods with joy. Inspired, Bernardo attempts to sing, too... but his croaking voice doesn't quite have the same effect. No matter what he does, Bernardo feels graceless and like he just doesn't add up. Dejected and down in the dumps, Bernardo sees no place for himself, until a woodland neighbor praises the hushed sounds that dusk brings, thus awakening Bernardo to his place in the woods' great symphony.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-394-4

8.25” (W) x 10.5” (H) • 52 Pages • Hardcover

Ages: 4-8

Publication Date: January 9, 2024

Written by Aracelis Girmay
Illustrated by Diana Ejaita

Kamau & ZuZu Find a Way is a stirring story of African diaspora, resourcefulness, and intergenerational love by National Book Critics Circle Award finalist and renowned poet Aracelis Girmay, and acclaimed illustrator Diana Ejaita.

One day, young Kamau and his grandmother ZuZu wake up to find themselves on the moon. Kamau doesn’t remember Back Home, but Grandma ZuZu does, and she misses it terribly. Together, through cloth scraps and dance, letters and song, Kamau and ZuZu find a way to make a new life for themselves in this strange land: a new life which is not only rooted in the stories, memories, and traditions that ZuZu always carries with her, but which also lovingly reaches out across the vast expanse of space to connect and communicate with the family from which they’ve been separated. 

Acclaimed poet Aracelis Girmay and illustrator Diana Ejaita together weave a powerful story inspired by the African diaspora, in which—despite the shock of being uprooted into this alien world, without being given any choice or explanation, and the sorrow that comes from the unfathomable distance separating them from their beloved community—Kamau and ZuZu find a way to live, as people do.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-389-0

10” (W) x 11.5” (H) • 60 pages • Hardcover with Jacket with double gatefold

Ages: 7-10

Publication Date: August 27, 2024

Written & illustrated by Natalia Shaloshvili

Translated from Russian by Lena Traer

Beautiful illustrations from an internationally recognized fine artist make this fun, ecologically-minded book about a bus-driving, tree-loving leopard a standout!

When Miss Leoparda isn’t sleeping in her beloved tree home, she drives the bus, taking her animal friends around town on their animal business. Every day, all of the bus’s seats are taken . . . until the day something amazing and new appears: a little car that speeds off into the distance, leaving clouds of smoke in its wake. Intrigued, the bus’s passengers each get a car of their own, one by one, until the day that Miss Leoparda is the only one left on the bus.

But more and more cars on the road mean more and more traffic jams, more and more arguments, and fewer and fewer trees—as trees, it seems, are just getting in the way of the jammed-up travelers. Will Miss Leoparda be able to nourish a new awareness and help her community return to their senses? With humor, insight, and gorgeous art, this is a picture book about the importance of the natural world and the value of community, to read again and again.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-412-5

9.6” (W) x 11” (H) • 56 pages • Hardcover with Jacket

Ages: 4-8

Publication Date: October 29, 2024

Written by Matthew Burgess

Illustrated by Sirin Thada

From award-winning author Matthew Burgess and debut illustrator Sirin Thada, a picture book biography of music icon Prince, from childhood to superstardom, that crackles with electricity and soul!

Prince is remembered as one of the greatest musicians and performers of all time. But before he achieved global superstardom, he was a child growing up in Minneapolis, with a universe of music inside him. From his first forays into writing songs with his school friends to his unprecedented three-album record deal at 19, and his surprise hit film Purple Rain to performing at the Super Bowl, Prince was never afraid to blaze his own trail—creating something entirely new, entirely free, and entirely PRINCE that would shape music and culture and resonate with audiences for generations to come.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-422-4

8” (W) x 10” (H) • 68 pages • Hardcover with Jacket

Ages: 4-8

Publication Date: November 19, 2024

Written by Melba Escobar

Illustrated by Elizabeth Builes

Translated from Spanish by Sara Lissa Paulson

A heartwarming middle-grade novel from Colombia about a ten-year-old boy and the larger-than-life figure who changes him forever.

Pedro is dealing with a lot for a ten-year-old kid, both at school and at home. So he's overjoyed when his mom surprises him with a trip to see the ocean—an experience he's been dreaming about for a long time!

Maybe this trip will make everything better. Maybe it will make his dad come back to him and his mom. Maybe he will stop being bullied at school, once he's seen the ocean! But things go wrong right from the start between Pedro and his mom, and all seems lost, until Pedro is found and taken in by a gruff old sea dog who has something magical about him.

Tender, funny, and stamped with psychological truth, Johnny, the Sea, and Me offers the thrills of pirate adventures and the rich cultural history of the Caribbean, along with strong characters and a satisfying and moving portrait of an unusual friendship. Adeptly translated by Sara Lissa Paulson and beautifully illustrated by Elizabeth Builes, this book is sure to resonate with readers young and old.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-409-5

5.5” (W) x 8.5” (H) • 124 Pages • Hardcover with Jacket

Ages: 10-14

Publication Date: July 16, 2024

Written by Ondjaki
Illustrated by António Jorge Gonçalves
Translated from Portuguese by Lyn Miller-Lachmann

A blackout leads two teens to discover the intimacy and vulnerability that can only be shared in darkness in Our Beautiful Darkness, a fully illustrated YA novella from celebrated Angolan author Ondjaki and illustrator António Jorge Gonçalves.

The light goes out suddenly. And in this absence of light, a pair of teenagers bare their souls. Into the warm silence of the night, they share a conversation filled with their stories and dreams… and maybe even a first kiss.

Set against the backdrop of the civil war that ravaged Angola in the 1990s, this book weaves the country’s history with a teenage boy’s family stories. But when a power outage shrouds the neighborhood in darkness, everyday realities fade away… As the boy and a girl sit talking in the backyard, memory gives way to imagination and vulnerability, and the space between them becomes charged with emotional electricity.

Their resulting conversation is both a meditation on the storytelling impulse and a gripping narrative of first love that, through its particulars, ascends to the universal.

ISBN: 978-1-59270-410-1

5” (W) x 8.5” (H) • 126 pages • Hardcover with Jacket with double gatefold

This book, published under our Unruly Imprint, is for teens and adults.

Publication Date: September 3, 2024