Day: March 31, 2021

12 Amazing New Picture Books Arriving in April

| Tasha

Here are 12 of the new fiction and nonfiction picture books coming in April that have received starred reviews and attention. Lots of top authors and illustrators with books this month!

Amira’s Picture Day by Reem Faruqi, illustrated by Fahmida Azim

El Toro and Friends: Training Day by Raul the Third

Hear My Voice/Escucha Mi Voz: The Testimonies of Children Detained at the Southern Border of the United States compiled by Warren Binford

I Sang You Down from the Stars by Tasha Spillett-Sumner, illustrated by Michaela Goade

Keeping the City Going by Brian Floca

My Tiny Life by Ruby T. Hummingbird by Paul Meisel

Night Walk by Marie Dorleans

The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art by Cynthia Levinson, illustrated by Evan Turk

Rock from the Sky by Jon Klassen

Saving American Beach: The Biography of African American Environmentalist MaVynee Betsch by Heidi Tyline King, illustrated by Ekua Holms

Sunrise Summer by Matthew Swanson, illustrated by Robbi Behr

Yes & No by Elisha Cooper

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

| Tasha
Cover image

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (9781984848697)

At age 16, Deka is preparing for the blood ceremony in her village that will prove that she is pure and worthy of marriage. When her village is attacked by deathshrieks though, Deka’s blood flows gold rather than red. Deka is discovered and held in a cell where she is drained of her blood regularly. Now unable to die permanently, she suffers through several deaths while her blood is sold by the elite members of her village. When a strange woman arrives wielding the power of the Emperor, she takes Deka with her to join a new elite force of fighters, all of them girls with gold blood and immortality. It is there that Deka becomes a warrior, learning to fight the deathshrieks and also learning about the powers she seems to have that no one else does, including the ability to order the deathshrieks to obey her commands. But all is not what it seems in the training camp. Steadily, Deka and her friends discover what is being hidden from them all.

Written in wildly engaging style, this book is a gripping and tense look at a society that denigrates women yet has to depend on them for their very survival in war. The pacing is strong, the book moving ahead with new discoveries and new revelations nicely. The diverse characters fill the entire cast, making a rich reading experience in an interesting fantasy world with monsters who are more than they seem at first.

Deka is an engaging protagonist. She must push back on the way she was raised to be submissive, something that many girls and women in our own society must do as well. Stepping into her own power is a theme of the book, learning to wield her new weapons and then figuring out who the real enemies are. Readers will figure out the puzzle long before Deka even seems interested in wondering about it. There are a few surprises along the way though, making it worth reading even if the reader has it mostly solved.

Ferocious, feminist, fierce and great fun. Appropriate for ages 13-17.

Reviewed from copy provided by Delacorte Press.