Royal Garden Party (Queen Bee #1)
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Priti Birla Maheshwari, illus. by Rea Zhai. Lerner, $7.99 paper (24p) ISBN 9798765629437
Young Beena is excited to host a royal garden party. Her mother, father, younger brother Neil, and pup Rani help her prepare for the gathering by dressing in lehengas and putting up decorations. Her best friend Bow—who is rendered with brown skin and curly hair—arrives with a round, white handmade piñata in tow. But Bee insists that she doesn’t want the piñata at the party because it doesn’t match the royal garden theme. When she notices Bow’s disappointment, however, Bee considers what to do with his offering. Wanting to both match the motif and lift Bow’s spirits, Bee comes up with a plan that she believes will solve the piñata conundrum. Brightly colored drawings by Zhai (Trunk-or-Treat) feature on every page, enhancing this sweet story of a girl who must balance her dreams of an epic (and on-theme) party with honoring her best friend’s feelings. Altogether, Maheshwari (Chaiwala!) delivers a tale of friendship, empathy, and creativity, the first in a charming early chapter book series. Publishing simultaneously: Talent Show Royalty, Show-and-Tell Queen, and Royal Best Friend. Ages 5–8. Author’s agent: Eve Adler, Red Fox Literary. (Aug.)
Loose Threads
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Isol, trans. from the Spanish by Lawrence Schimel. Enchanted Lion, $18.95 (76p) ISBN 978-1-5927-0392-0
An embroidered shawl’s underside represents an alternate realm in this inventive picture book. Having lost keys, a scarf, gloves, an umbrella, and more, Leilah deflects their mother’s scolding. Leilah explains that “everything here is in its place... just like the stitches in Grandma’s embroidery.” But stories are told about an adjacent domain, “full of knots, dangling threads, and odd animals,” that can only be seen in dreams. Convinced that the missing things have fallen through holes in the world, Leilah ventures out, armed with supplies to make repairs. But closing up those holes has unexpected and unpleasant results around the summer solstice. Sketchlike characters atop textile and scarf backgrounds bring to life Isol’s eerie concept, which celebrates the fascinating reverse side of intricate stitching patterns. Character skin tones reflect the hue of the page. Endnotes cite the highlighted scarf as being a gift from the Tamer Institute in Palestine. Ages 7–9. (June)
My Best Friend’s Bangles
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Thushanthi Ponweera, illus. by Maithili Joshi. Simon & Schuster, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-6659-2171-8
Best friends Selvi and Divya each miss their ammas, who live in another country, working in domestic positions and sending the proceeds home. Still, the two girls have each other for riding bikes to school, playing dress-up, and eating pittu with sugar. When Divya one day arrives on a bike wearing rainbow bangles, explaining that they’re gifts from her recently returned amma, Selvi smiles, but “my heart falls with a thump.” Overwhelmed with thoughts of her own amma, she snaps at her friend, an act that sends “those too-bright, too-loud, too-everything bangles” to the ground. Joshi’s digital images suggest bangles clinking through curling waves of rainbow swirls, and the bracelets work as a visual framing device as their bright hues represent a shared rainbow for the reconciled friends in this work of longing and love. An author’s note discusses Sri Lanka’s colonial history. Characters cue as South Asian. Ages 4–8. (June)
Zuni and the Memory Jar
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Aisha Saeed, illus. by Neha Rawat. Kokila, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5936-1895-0
A family’s way of reflecting on the year encourages Zuni, youngest of three, to make memories in this sunny tale. When Mama arrives home with a big glass jar, she explains that it will hold items associated with special moments. As Zuni’s family adds mementos from their achievements—a winning soccer goal, a successful piano recital—Zuni is told that “someday” her moment will come, too. When the jar is opened, it reveals each individual’s recollections—and the way Zuni has made the most of notable everyday events. Saeed’s slice-of-life-oriented text highlights each signpost, while Rawat’s digital illustrations capture Zuni’s no less significant contributions alongside those of her family. An author’s note concludes. Zuni’s family cues as being of South Asian heritage. Ages 4–8. (June)
Poppy’s Family Patterns
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Lauren Semmer. Crown, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5937-1060-9
A mother and daughter, portrayed with brown skin, share stories of those they love in a conversational narrative that stitches together family history and repurposed swatches. When young Poppy accidentally rips her stuffed bunny’s dress, Mom opens the old trunk in her sewing room, which contains patterned scraps from outworn garments, each one special. Together, the two recall family members and their favorite activities. Paisley represents an old tie once belonging to Granddad, who still loves to dress up; a plaid bit of sundress was worn by Nana, a keen gardener; and polka-dotted lace that captures “a magical day” when Poppy’s parents were married. As Poppy’s mom finds a fitting use for the scraps, digital illustrations in a saturated palette employ collage-style elements, supplying a paper-doll vibe to a moving work that attires the present with the past. A pattern library and author’s note conclude. Ages 4–8. (June)
Home in a Lunchbox
Cherry Mo. Penguin Workshop, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5936-6134-5
Jun, whom end papers reveal has recently moved from Hong Kong to an American suburb, stands at a bus stop one Monday, the translations of three words scrawled on one palm. Jun worries about responding to a peer’s greeting, and as a week of typical school days ensues, Jun moves through a grayed-out world in which others’ conversations are portrayed in scribbles. Memories of home, and images of lunch box contents, are rendered in elegant full-color illustrations alongside swirling hearts and emanata, suggesting feelings of comfort and love. And the following Monday, the lunch box provides a language-barrier-bridging pathway to friendship. In an exceptional debut, Mo deploys digital illustrations that expertly use selective coloring to depict an experience of finding common ground. A glossary of Cantonese words and diagram of Jun’s lunch box concludes. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (June)
Bao’s Doll
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Bo Lu. Abrams, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-4197-6921-4
For her birthday, Bao wants cake, balloons, and an expensive “All-American” branded doll like her peers have, but “Mama did not hear that.” Nor does Mama understand Bao’s longing to “share jokes, snuggles, and dreams,” as the girl sees other mothers and daughters do. Instead, Mama describes her childhood in Taiwan (“We had nothing”), and a rift grows between the two. After Bao, desperate over the perceived unfairness, takes a doll from a store shelf and runs for the door, an even larger space crops up between them. Soon, though, they talk about Mama’s upbringing and childhood longing for her own mother, and the two honor “Mama’s memories and Bao’s hopes” by making a doll that resembles them. Digital illustrations that mimic graphite and pastel add deep emotionality to a resonant debut that affirms family as well as cultural heritage. An author’s note concludes. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (June)
Raashi’s Rakhis: A New Celebration of Raksha Bandhan
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Sheetal Sheth, illus. by Lucia Soto. Random House, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-593-70726-5
A resourceful protagonist expands a gendered ritual in this straightforward picture book. Raksha Bandhan, a festival about honoring families, is a favorite of bespectacled Raashi. But when her younger brother Tejas insists Raashi adhere to the holiday’s gendered guidelines, she questions Mama’s explanation: that traditionally, sisters tied rakhis—bracelets symbolizing protection—on to their brothers, because it once wasn’t thought that girls should do as much as boys. Raashi, whose big dreams include piloting planes, coaching a baseball team, and being president, wonders “if the idea was to protect the people you loved, why didn’t the girls get rakhis, too?” Traditionalists may balk at Sheth’s reinterpretation of a beloved Hindu ritual, but the direct narrative provides opportunity for a more inclusive celebration. Soto’s digital palette of gold, green, and pink portrays wide-eyed characters in domestic scenes. All characters cue as South Asian. Ages 4–8. (July)
A Garland of Henna
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Varsha Bajaj, illus. by Archana Sreenivasan. Penguin/Paulsen, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-5933-2511-7
Born into “a long garland/ of teachers and keepers of art,” a girl worries over her early efforts at rendering henna designs in this rhythmically narrated and lusciously drawn tale. After her mother makes “one seed,// two stems,/ three leaves,/ four flowers” bloom on Nikita’s palm, Mom and Nani tell the child they will teach her, too. Nikita consults the henna notebook that Nani carried from India, and practices on paper, but when Nani gives Nikita a cone filled with mehndi paste, Nikita squeezes too hard, creating an ugly blot on Nani’s palm. She worries (“What if I can’t draw like them? What if I can’t learn like them?”), but an outing and further practice suggest that the child will “one day... become part of her family’s long garden.” Henna art motifs swirl throughout Sreenivasan’s gold- and olive-hued digital drawings, offering henna portraits of Nikita’s family, while Bajaj’s prose amplifies various aspects of henna art in this connective work. An author’s note concludes. Ages 3–7. (June)
Rostam’s Picture-Day Pusteen
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Ryan Bani Tahmaseb, illus. by Fateme Mokhles. Charlesbridge, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-6235-4381-5
In a videochat with his father, who’s still living in Iran, first grader Rostam and his maman share details of their life three months after moving to the U.S. But though his baba’s praise makes Rostam proud, he shrinks at his mother’s suggestion that he wear his father’s pusteen for picture day. As Maman explains that Iranian shepherds once wore the wool-lined vest (“Baba’s was handmade... to honor our heritage”), Rostam worries about his peers’ reactions. At school, when classmates show interest in the vest, Rostam reminds himself of his bravery and explains the pusteen’s familial and cultural significance. Mokhles’s soft-edged digital images and Tahmaseb’s sensory-oriented text gently underline the child’s feelings of interpersonal courage and intergenerational connection. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. A Farsi glossary and author’s note conclude. Ages 3–7. (July)
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