In Kerry Madden-Lunsford’s middle-grade novel, Werewolf Hamlet, something terrible is happening to Angus Gettlefinger’s 17-year-old brother, Liam. He’s turning into a monster, and Angus doesn’t know why. Madden-Lunsford will discuss Werewolf Hamlet at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on February 20 and at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 24.
Memphis-born storyteller Alice Faye Duncan has made it her life’s mission further the message of Martin Luther King Jr. through her transcendent work as a children’s author, educator, and librarian. Her recent picture books celebrate African American music as a source of joy and a form of resistance.
“I am Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Novis. … I am the candidate most likely to violate the Official Secrets Act. And I will be convicted of treason when I do.” Lizzie is half of the talented brother/sister team at the center of The Bletchley Riddle, a World War II novel for middle-grade readers by an equally talented team: award-winning writers Ruta Sepetys and Steve Sheinkin.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea, the funny and thought-provoking sequel to TJ Klune’s bestselling 2020 fantasy novel The House in the Cerulean Sea, provides another chapter in the inspiring story of the mostly unflappable Arthur Parnassus, his sweetheart Linus Baker, and the extraordinary magical children in their care. Klune will appear at the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, October 26-27.
When Doan Phuong Nguyen was in elementary school, her family immigrated to Nashville from Vietnam. This complicated transition inspired Nguyen’s new book, A Two-Placed Heart, a lightly embellished autobiographical, epistolary story told in verse. Nguyen will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on September 24 and the 2024 Southern Festival of Books in Nashville on October 26-27.
Chattanooga author Natalie Lloyd’s latest tale of heartbreak and hope for middle school readers is The Witching Wind. Roxie Darling and Grayson Patch become friends as incoming sixth graders at Camelot Middle School in fictional Silas County, Tennessee. And, as is always the case in a Natalie Lloyd book, fantastical adventures are soon afoot.
