I Can See Clearly Now | March 2022
Art © by Paula Cohen
April 1 Is LQ’s Birthday
A lot can happen in three years. We launched our first list in August 2020—in the midst of a global pandemic with two National Bestsellers, Everything Sad Is Untrue and Elatsoe.
A year later, LQ was honored with the Bologna Prize as the Best Children’s Book Publisher in North America. Our small but mighty team made history at the Youth Media Awards—two years in a row. From the John Newbery Medal to the Pura Belpre Award to the American Indian Youth Literature Award to our very first Batchelder Honor and, of course, our first Michael L. Printz Medal and Printz Honor—LQ has demonstrated excellence across genres, categories, and formats.
Our books and authors have appeared on NPR, TIME, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Today Show.
This spring, The Last Cuentista hit the New York Times Bestseller list at #2 and was #1 on the National Indie Bestseller List the same week. If folks didn’t know about us before, well, they sure do know about us now.
To celebrate we are hosting a party on April 1 at Rizzoli in Manhattan—and special guest, Ironhead: Or Once A Young Lady author Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem is flying in from Belgium to toast with us. You’re all invited!
RSVP here
—Team LQ
Screenshot from twitter.com/paulacohenart
Remembering Paula Cohen
Rising star and LQ author and illustrator, Paula Cohen, died unexpectedly a few days before the release of her picture book, Big Dreams, Small Fish. The news was confirmed by Paula's sister-in-law, author Kristen Lippert-Martin, on Twitter on February 25. Paula was born in Albany, NY, to Sam and Shirley Cohen. Her grandparents owned a small family grocery store in their neighborhood. This story would be the inspiration behind her picture book. Now her kid-lit friends are using their platforms to share her story and make her book a bestseller.
Publishers Weekly ran a beautiful obituary about Paula last month ›
Arthur also talked with Joy Preble at Brazos Bookstore about Paula ›
PLA Giveaway
We weren’t able to attend PLA this year, so we are giving away some ARCs in honor of Public Librarians everywhere. Enter for the chance to win a box of LQ’s spring 22 ARCs including two excellent adult/YA crossover titles: The Dove in the Belly by Jim Grimsley and High Spirits by Camille Gomera-Tavarez. ENTER HERE ›
LQ in the News
Paula Cohen’s Big Dreams, Small Fish was reviewed in the Wall Street Journal
Mari Lowe’s Aviva vs. the Dybbuk is the cover of BookLinks
Darcie Little Badger’s A Snake Falls To Earth is a finalist for a Nebula Award and an LA Times Book Prize
Donna Barba Higuera (The Last Cuentista ) is profiled in The Seattle Times
AUTHORS ON TOUR
Fri, March 25 — Camille Gomera Tavarez + Darcie Little Badger @ Kweli Conference ›
Sat, March 26 — Donna Barba Higuera + Darcie Little Badger @ Books of Wonder ›
Fri, April 1 — Jean-Claude van Rijckeghem @ Rizzoli Bookstore ›
Sun, April 3 — Sarah Moon @ Hoboken Literary Weekend ›
Thursday, April 14 — Camille Gomera Tavarez @ Clifton Public Library ›
Wed, April 20 — Eric Gansworth + Anton Treuer + Andrea L. Rogers @ Mackin Webinar: Lifting Voices: Native Voices in YA ›
New Releases
BIG DREAMS, SMALL FISH
“An all-American tale of the Yiddish diaspora…A charming picture book for 4- to 8-year-olds.” — Wall Street Journal
“Timeless: an indomitable protagonist and the loving family who dotes on her.” —Publishers Weekly
“An affectionate ode to family, fish, and creative problem solving.”—BookPage
GIBBERISH
★ “A visually and emotionally immersive immigration story.” —Kirkus (starred)
★ “A delightful first day of school story. Beginning readers will love this book as the illustrations say it all.”—School Library Connection (starred)
★ “This is a story that will give hope to kids dealing with a new country and could inspire others to reach out to struggling immigrant children.” —Booklist (starred)
IRONHEAD, OR, ONCE A YOUNG LADY
★ “Action-packed. Rich with detail. Rowdy and contemplative in turn, this celebration of historical gender nonconformity is as compelling as it is fun.” —Publishers Weekly (starred)
★ “Stance is a delightfully chaotic protagonist, who is (scandalously) free with her affection and kisses and whose easy charm gets her out of more than little trouble. Thrilling, often hilarious, and sometimes tear-jerking, this romp of a story is reminiscent of classic adventure tales.” —BCCB (starred)
★ “Throughout the story—with its hilarity and drastic eventfulness, its duels and battles, unexpected lovers, and lesson in how a girl can use a bellows to facilitate peeing while standing—Stance and Pier mature and become more resolutely themselves.” —Horn Book (starred)