15 Books You'll See at YALLFest
YALLFest is this weekend! Ah! It really snuck up on me, considering I feel like I just got back from YALLWEST not too long ago. I’m so excited to see y’all this weekend and talk all things bookish. If you haven’t seen our booth schedule yet, you can see it here. We have a stacked lineup for y’all—not just with our authors’ panels, but also with the books we’re giving away. I know there are a lot of booths and can be super overwhelming, so I’ve provided the descriptions to all 15 books we’re giving away at the booth below so that you can plan accordingly.
Get some rest, drink lots of water, and we’ll see y’all bright and early Saturday morning.
CAMP
BY L. C. ROSEN
Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It’s where he met his best friends. It’s where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it’s where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim—who’s only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists.
This year, though, it’s going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as ‘Del’ – buff, masculine, and on the market. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail polish, and his unicorn bedsheets, he’s determined to get Hudson to fall for him.
But as he and Hudson grow closer, Randy has to ask himself how much is he willing to change for love. And is it really love anyway, if Hudson doesn’t know who he truly is?
Snag a copy:
3:00 PM / Lollipop, Lollipop
DEAR UNIVERSE
BY FLORENCE GONSALVES
Dear Universe,
Sorry for interrupting you with my presence, but I'm wondering if you could have my back for once. I recently had a massive chin zit and a period stain you could see from space and my boyfriend kissed someone else and also my dad is dying faster than usual. If you could show up during my last English class so I can graduate and like achieve my potential or something, I'd appreciate it.
It's senior year, and Chamomile Myles has whiplash from traveling between her two universes: school (the relentless countdown to prom, torturous college applications, and the mindless march toward an uncertain future) and home, where she wrestles a slow, bitter battle with her father's terminal illness. Enter Brendan, a man-bun- and tutu-wearing hospital volunteer with a penchant for absurdity, who strides boldly between her worlds--and helps her open up a new road between them.
Dear Universe is the dazzling follow-up to Florence Gonsalves's debut, Love & Other Carnivorous Plants, hailed by School Library Journal as "a must-have sharp, powerful, and witty immersion into the complexities of...mental health."
Snag a copy:
3:00 PM / Lollipop, Lollipop
Goldie Vance: The Hotel Whodunit
by Lilliam Rivera, illustrated by Elle Power
Marigold “Goldie” Vance lives and works at the Crossed Palms Resort Hotel in Florida with a whole slew of characters: her dad, Art, the manager of the joint; Cheryl Lebeaux, the concierge and Goldie’s best friend; and Walter Tooey, the hired hotel detective. Her mom, Sylvia, works nearby at the Mermaid Club.
While life at the Crossed Palms is always busy, the resort is currently overrun with Hollywood-types filming the hottest new creature feature, and tensions are at an all-time high. Even Goldie’s mom is in on the movie act, doing what she does best: playing a mermaid. Just when Goldie thinks the movie biz couldn’t get any more exciting, a diamond-encrusted swimming cap goes missing, and all fingers point to Goldie’s mom as the culprit. Can Goldie uncover the true thief before it’s too late?
Hope Larson and Brittney Williams’s critically acclaimed Goldie Vance comic series explores never-before-seen mysteries in this thrilling, original middle-grade debut by Lilliam Rivera. Features 16 full-color comic pages that are essential to unraveling the mystery.
Text and Illustration copyright: © 2020 BOOM! Studios
Goldie Vance(TM) and © 2020 Hope Larson & Brittney Williams
Snag a copy:
2:00 PM / Middle Grade Adventures
Jacky Ha-Ha: A Graphic Novel
by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein, adapted by Adam Rau and Betty Tang
With her irresistible urge to tell a joke in every situation—even when it’s a bad idea—Jacky Ha-Ha loves to make people laugh. And cracking wise helps distract her from thinking about not-so-funny things in her life, like her mom serving in a dangerous, faraway war, and a dad who’s hardly ever home.
But no matter how much fun Jacky has, she can’t entirely escape her worries. So one starlit night, she makes a promise to keep her family together…even if she has to give up the one thing that makes her happy. But can she stop being Jacky Ha-Ha, if that’s who she really is?
Bright, funny, and fast-paced artwork will have readers laughing their way through Jacky’s ha-ha-heartwarming story!
Snag a copy:
2:00 PM / Middle Grade Adventures
MOST LIKELY
BY SARAH WATSON
Ava, CJ, Jordan, and Martha (listed in alphabetical order out of fairness) have been friends since kindergarten. Now they're in their senior year, facing their biggest fears about growing up and growing apart. But there's more than just college on the horizon. One of these girls is destined to become the president of the United States. The mystery, of course, is which girl gets the gig.
Is it Ava, the picture-perfect artist who's secretly struggling to figure out where she belongs? Or could it be CJ, the one who's got everything figured out...except how to fix her terrible SAT scores? Maybe it's Jordan, the group's resident journalist, who knows she's ready for more than their small Ohio suburb can offer. And don't overlook Martha, who will have to overcome all the obstacles that stand in the way of her dreams.
This is the story of four best friends who have one another's backs through every new love, breakup, stumble, and success—proving that great friendships can help young women achieve anything...even a seat in the Oval Office.
Snag a copy:
1:00 PM / Best Book Friends
The Only Black Girls in Town
by Brandy Colbert
Beach-loving surfer Alberta has been the only black girl in town for years. Alberta’s best friend, Laramie, is the closest thing she has to a sister, but there are some things even Laramie can’t understand. When the bed and breakfast across the street finds new owners, Alberta is ecstatic to learn the family is black-and they have a 12-year-old daughter just like her.
Alberta is positive she and the new girl, Edie, will be fast friends. But while Alberta loves being a California girl, Edie misses her native Brooklyn and finds it hard to adapt to small-town living.
When the girls discover a box of old journals in Edie’s attic, they team up to figure out exactly who’s behind them and why they got left behind. Soon they discover shocking and painful secrets of the past and learn that nothing is quite what it seems.
Snag a copy:
2:00 PM / Middle Grade Adventures
THE PLAIN JANES
BY CECIL CASTELLUCCI AND JIM RUGG
After getting caught in the midst of a terrorist attack on Metro City, artsy misfit Jane Beckles is forced to leave her beloved bustling metropolis for the boring suburb of Kent Waters. At first Jane thinks her life is over, but then she finds where she belongs: at the reject table in the cafeteria, along with Brain Jayne, Theater Jane, and sporty Polly Jane. United by only two things--a shared name and an all-too-relatable frustration with the adults around them—the girls form a secret club dedicated to waking up their fellow citizens with guerrilla works of art scattered around town.
But for Main Jane, the group is more than just a simple act of teenaged rebellion, it's an act of survival. She's determined not to let fear rule her life like it does her parents' and neighbors'. Armed with her sketchbook and a mission of resistance, she's out to prove that true passion and a group of good friends can save anyone from the hell that is high school.
Includes the original two installments of the cult classic graphic novel The Plain Janes—The Plain Janes and Janes in Love—plus a never-before-seen third story, Janes Attack Back. And it gets even better: In the final book, each part will be printed in its own distinct color, because there's nothing plain about these Janes.
Snag a copy:
11:00 AM / Let’s Get Real
Sword in the Stars
by Cori McCarthy and Amy Rose Capetta
Ari Helix may have won her battle against the tyrannical Mercer corporation, but the larger war has just begun. Ari and her cursed wizard Merlin must travel back in time to the unenlightened Middle Ages and steal the King Arthur’s Grail—the very definition of impossible.
It’s imperative that the time travelers not skew the timeline and alter the course of history. Coming face-to-face with the original Arthurian legend could produce a ripple effect that changes everything. Somehow Merlin forgot that the past can be even more dangerous than the future…
Snag a copy:
10:00 AM / Girl Power Hour
They Went Left
BY MONICA HESSE
Germany, 1945. The soldiers who liberated the Gross-Rosen concentration camp said the war was over, but nothing feels over to eighteen-year-old Zofia Lederman. Her body has barely begun to heal; her mind feels broken. And her life is completely shattered: Three years ago, she and her younger brother, Abek, were the only members of their family to be sent to the right, away from the gas chambers of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Everyone else--her parents, her grandmother, radiant Aunt Maja—they went left.
Zofia's last words to her brother were a promise:Abek to Zofia, A to Z. When I find you again, we will fill our alphabet.Now her journey to fulfill that vow takes her through Poland and Germany, and into a displaced persons camp where everyone she meets is trying to piece together a future from a painful past: Miriam, desperately searching for the twin she was separated from after they survived medical experimentation. Breine, a former heiress, who now longs only for a simple wedding with her new fiancé. And Josef, who guards his past behind a wall of secrets, and is beautiful and strange and magnetic all at once.
But the deeper Zofia digs, the more impossible her search seems. How can she find one boy in a sea of the missing? In the rubble of a broken continent, Zofia must delve into a mystery whose answers could break her—or help her rebuild her world.
Snag a copy:
11:00 AM / Let’s Get Real
This Is My Brain in Love
BY I. W. GREGORIO
Jocelyn Wu has just three wishes for her junior year: To make it through without dying of boredom, to direct a short film with her BFF Priya Venkatram, and to get at least two months into the year without being compared to or confused with Peggy Chang, the only other Chinese girl in her grade.
Will Domenici has two goals: to find a paying summer internship, and to prove he has what it takes to become an editor on his school paper.
Then Jocelyn's father tells her their family restaurant may be going under, and all wishes are off. Because her dad has the marketing skills of a dumpling, it's up to Jocelyn and her unlikely new employee, Will, to bring A-Plus Chinese Garden into the 21st century (or, at least, to Facebook).
What starts off as a rocky partnership soon grows into something more. But family prejudices and the uncertain future of A-Plus threaten to keep Will and Jocelyn apart. It will take everything they have and more, to save the family restaurant and their budding romance.
Snag a copy:
3:00 PM / Lollipop, Lollipop
Throw Like a Girl
BY SARAH HENNING
When softball star Liv Rodinsky throws one ill-advised punch during the most important game of the year, she loses her scholarship to her fancy private school, her boyfriend, and her teammates all in one fell swoop. With no other options, Liv is forced to transfer to the nearest public school, Northland, where she'll have to convince their coach she deserves a spot on the softball team, all while facing both her ex and the teammates of the girl she punched... Every. Single. Day.
Enter Grey, the injured star quarterback with perfect hair and an even more perfect plan: if Liv joins the football team as his temporary replacement, he'll make sure she gets a spot on the softball team in the Spring. But it will take more than the perfect spiral for Liv to find acceptance in Northland's halls, and behind that charming smile, Grey may not be so perfect after all.
With well-drawn characters and a charming quarterback love interest who's got brains as well as brawn, Throw Like a Girl will have readers swooning from the very first page.
Snag a copy:
10:00 AM / Girl Power Hour
TRINKETS
BY KIRSTEN SMITH
Now a Netflix Original Series! The Breakfast Club meets Leah on the Offbeat in this story of female friendships that break all the rules.
Tabitha, Elodie, and Moe: a beauty queen, a wallflower, and a burnout. Tabitha has just about everything she wants: money, friends, popularity, a hot boyfriend who worships her… and a yen for stealing. So does Elodie, who, despite her goodie-two-shoes attitude pretty much has “klepto” written across her forehead. Both of them are nothing compared to Moe, a bad girl with an even worse reputation. But the day that Tabitha and Elodie walk into Moe’s Shoplifters Anonymous meeting, everything changes. When Tabitha challenges them to a steal-off, they forge a strange alliance linked by the thrill of stealing, and the reasons that spawn it. A more unlikely trio high school has rarely seen.
Hollywood screenwriter Kirsten Smith tells this story from multiple perspectives with humor and warmth as three very different girls who are supposed to be learning the steps to recovery somehow end up on the road to friendship.
Snag a copy:
1:00 PM / Best Book Friends
What We Found in the Corn Maze and How It Saved a Dragon
by Henry Clark
An ordinary day turns extraordinary when twelve-year-old Cal witnesses his neighbor summon a slew of lost coins without lifting a finger. Turns out she has a secret manual of magic spells…but they only work sometimes. And they’re the most boring spells ever:
To Change the Color of a Room
To Repair a Chimney
To Walk With Stilts
To Untangle Yarn
Useless! But when Cal, his friend Drew, and his neighbor Modesty are suddenly transported to the world the spells come from—a world that’s about to lose its last dragon—they’ll have to find a way to use the oddly specific incantations to save the day, if only they can figure out when magic works.
From the inventive mind of Henry Clark comes a hilariously wacky adventure about magic, friendship, a lookout tower come to life, a maze in the shape of a dragon, an actual dragon named Phlogiston, and lots and lots of popcorn.
Snag a copy:
2:00 PM / Middle Grade Adventures
THE WINTER DUKE
BY CLAIRE ELIZA BARTLETT
When Ekata's brother is finally named heir, there will be nothing to keep her at home in Kylma Above with her murderous family. Not her books or science experiments, not her family's icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness.
In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother's warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without—and within—her own ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love...or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family's power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield it.
Part Sleeping Beauty, part Anastasia, with a thrilling political mystery, The Winter Duke is a spellbinding story about choosing what's right in the face of danger.
Cover art by @billelis.
Snag a copy:
10:00 AM / Girl Power Hour
You’re Next
by Kylie Schachte
Flora Calhoun has a reputation for sticking her nose where it doesn’t belong. After stumbling upon a classmate’s body years ago, the trauma of that discovery and the police’s failure to find the killer has haunted her ever since. One night, she gets a midnight text from Ava McQueen, the beautiful girl who had ignited Flora’s heart last summer, then never spoke to her again.
Just in time to witness Ava’s death from a gunshot wound, Flora is set on a path of rage and vengeance for all the dead girls whose killer is never found. Her tunnel-visioned sleuthing leads to valuable clues about a shocking conspiracy involving her school and beyond, but also earns her sinister threats from the murderer. She has a choice—to give up the hunt for answers, or keep digging and risk her loved ones’ lives. Either way, Flora will regret the consequences. Who’s next on the killer’s list?
Snag a copy:
11:00 AM / Let’s Get Real