HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY: NEW GRAPHIC NOVELS, YA, AND NONFICTION

By Megan Ciskowski, Associate Publicist

Check out August new releases from Lerner Publishing Group!

We are almost at the halfway mark for the year. Can you believe it? Before jumping into the summer season, let’s take some time to reflect on those exceptional fiction and nonfiction from the spring. We have gathered all the titles from Lerner Publishing Group and our publishing partners that have received starred reviews in the list below. Discover the best titles for your young readers and still have time to enjoy the sunshine!

By Jon Fishman, Executive Editor, Lerner Sports

From baby animals and blooming flowers to rainstorms and galoshes, signs of spring have finally arrived after a typically long Minnesota winter. For many sports fans, spring also signals the start of Major League Baseball (MLB).

For me, spring was more special than usual this year because MLB’s Opening Day coincided with the appearance on bookstore shelves of award-winning sports author Matt Doeden’s It’s Outta Here! The Might a nd Majesty of the Home Run. The action-packed text covers every aspect of baseball’s biggest hits, from the longest and strangest home runs to the physics of hitting the ball out of the park.

With baseball on my mind, I asked Doeden a few questions about the book and what he thinks about the current state of MLB.

By Megan Ciskowski, Assistant Publicist

Check out April new releases from Lerner Publishing Group!

The Floating Field: How a Group of Thai Boys Built Their Own Soccer Field follows the inspiring true story of Prasit Hemmin and his friends as they find a way to play soccer on Koh Panyee, Thailand. Because their home didn’t have enough open space for them to play on, the teen boys could play only twice a month when the tide was low enough for a sandbar to serve as a field.

Inspired by the 1986 World Cup, Prasit and his friends built their own floating soccer field, unlike any other playing surface in the world. Their field’s quirks prompted some unusual rules—anyone who kicked the ball out of bounds had to jump into the ocean to retrieve it—but they also helped the players develop exceptional footwork. This celebration of ingenuity and determination is perfect for fans of stories about sports, beating seemingly impossible odds, and places and cultures not often shown in picture books.

Debut author Scott Riley and illustrators Nguyen Quang and Kim Lien join us to day to answer some questions about their inspiration and creative process!