What's New? Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga's Reviews. Hop on over there to ogle what other bloggers got this week.

For review: Big week for me. A box came from Penguin Random House but I will parcel them out over the next few weeks of "stacking" posts because I'm excited about all of them. Brought these home from the preview!

The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA by Brenda Woods. 198 p. Nancy Paulson Books/ Penguin Young Readers Group, January 8, 2019. 9781524737092

Publisher synopsis: On Gabriel's twelfth birthday, he gets a new bike—and is so excited that he accidentally rides it right into the path of a car. Fortunately, a Black man named Meriwether pushes him out of the way just in time, and fixes his damaged bike. As a thank you, Gabriel gets him a job at his dad's auto shop. Gabriel's dad hires him with some hesitation, however, anticipating trouble with the other mechanic, who makes no secret of his racist opinions. 
Gabriel and Meriwether become friends, and Gabriel learns that Meriwether drove a tank in the Army's all-Black 761st Tank Battalion in WWII. Meriwether is proud of his service, but has to keep it a secret because talking about it could be dangerous. Sadly, danger finds Meriwether, anyway, when his family receives a frightening threat. The South being the way it is, there's no guarantee that the police will help—and Gabriel doesn't know what will happen if Meriwether feels forced to take the law into his own hands. 

Tarot by Marissa Kennerson. 280 p. Razorbill/ Penguin Young Readers Group, February 19, 2019. 9780451478412.

Publisher synopsis: Her fate is so much more than the cards she was dealt.

Born of a forbidden union between the Queen and the tyrannical King's archnemesis, Anna is forced to live out her days isolated in the Tower, with only her mentors and friends the Hermit, the Fool, and the Magician to keep her company. To pass the time, Anna imagines unique worlds populated by creatives and dreamers--the exact opposite of the King's land of fixed fates and rigid rules--and weaves them into four glorious tapestries.

But on the eve of her sixteenth birthday and her promised release from the Tower, Anna discovers her true lineage: She's the daughter of Marco, a powerful magician, and the King is worried that his magical gifts are starting to surface in Anna. Fearing for her life, Anna flees the Tower and finds herself in Cups, a lush, tropical land full of all the adventure, free-spiritedness, and creativity she imagined while weaving. 

Anna thinks she's found paradise in this world of beachside parties, endless food and drink, and exhilarating romance. But when the fabric of Cups begins to unravel, Anna discovers that her tapestries are more than just forbidden expression. They're the foundation for a new world that she is destined to create--as long as the terrors from the old world don't catch up with her first.

The special guest for the event was Laurie Halse Anderson. These previews are usually packed, but this one was PACKED! Our tables were decorated by the crafty Rachel, who painted pages and cut and folded. I didn't get enough of the orange leaves into the pic. They mirror the cover nicely.

Laurie graciously stopped at every table to converse, then spoke passionately, as she always does. There seemed to be some tech troubles so she had to hold this weird little mic.

There was a signing and I was near the end of the line. The perk was that there were some extra copies on the table. I asked if I could take an extra for my author friend, e.E. Charlton-Trujillo. She runs a non-profit called Never Counted Out. She collects book donations and gets them into the hands of at-risk youth. We met on a signing line for Jack Gantos at ALA Annual some years ago where I recognized her as the author of Fat Angie. (See below) We got to talking and I learned that she was buying books for Never Counted Out. Since then, I always try to fill a box or two each year to send. I can't wait to get this out to her:

Shout by Laurie Halse Anderson. 290 p. Viking/ Penguin Young Readers Group, March 12, 2019, 9780670012107.

Publisher synopsis: A searing poetic memoir and call to action from the bestselling and award-winning author of Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson!

Bestselling author Laurie Halse Anderson is known for the unflinching way she writes about, and advocates for, survivors of sexual assault. Now, inspired by her fans and enraged by how little in our culture has changed since her groundbreaking novel Speak was first published twenty years ago, she has written a poetry memoir that is as vulnerable as it is rallying, as timely as it is timeless. In free verse, Anderson shares reflections, rants, and calls to action woven between deeply personal stories from her life that she's never written about before. Searing and soul-searching, this important memoir is a denouncement of our society's failures and a love letter to all the people with the courage to say #MeToo and #TimesUp, whether aloud, online, or only in their own hearts. Shout speaks truth to power in a loud, clear voice-- and once you hear it, it is impossible to ignore.

And, from Candlewick:

Fat Angie: rebel girl revolution by e.E Charlton-Trujillo. 344 p. Candlewick Press, March 5, 2019. 9780763693459.

Publisher synopsis: More trouble at school and at home — and the discovery of a missive from her late soldier sister — send Angie and a long-ago friend on an RV road trip across Ohio.

Sophomore year has just begun, and Angie is miserable. Her girlfriend, KC, has moved away; her good friend, Jake, is keeping his distance; and the resident bully has ramped up an increasingly vicious and targeted campaign to humiliate her. An over-the-top statue dedication planned for her sister, who died in Iraq, is almost too much to bear, and it doesn't help that her mother has placed a symbolic empty urn on their mantel. At the ceremony, a soldier hands Angie a final letter from her sister, including a list of places she wanted the two of them to visit when she got home from the war. With her mother threatening to send Angie to a “treatment center” and the situation at school becoming violent, Angie enlists the help of her estranged childhood friend, Jamboree. Along with a few other outsiders, they pack into an RV and head across the state on the road trip Angie's sister did not live to take. It might be just what Angie needs to find a way to let her sister go, and find herself in the process.

Purchased: Nothing! Too busy with what's being sent to me and reading for Cybils. But I still have those Amazon gift cards!