Librarians looking at books at the Chronicle Spring 2015 Preview. Photo by Sarah Lin

Librarians and booksellers flocked to San Francisco’s Chronicle Books headquarters in early October for the publisher's spring preview. Chronicle has had a banner year, with Patricia Hruby Powell and Christian Robinson’s Josephine (2014) selected for the Boston Globe/Horn Book Nonfiction Honor and Sherri Duskey Rinker’s Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site and Hervé Tullet’s Press Here (both 2011) each marking their third year on the New York Times bestseller list—it’s always exciting to find out what’s next. First up was Canadian lawyer-turned-illustrator Holman Wang presenting Star Wars: Epic Yarns (May) and two other “Star Wars” board books he created with his brother Jack Wang, a writing professor at New York’s Ithaca College. Holman took us on a behind-the-scenes slideshow tour of his latest. Each board book page is a photograph of meticulously designed felted wool figures. Backdrops from the Arizona landscape to the Imperial Sand Dunes of California create a three-dimensional wonderland, and with only 12 words in each book, the images become a storytelling vehicle. Pool (May) is a wordless picture book from debut author/illustrator Ji Hyeon Lee, who lives in Korea. A shy child turns out to be brave and interesting—and the pool has a lot going on beneath the surface in this narratively rich and visually spectacular book. “Hilarious!” is how to describe the picture book Polar Bear’s Underwear (March) by tupera tupera, the Tokyo-based art and design firm of artists Tatsuya Kameyama and Atsuko Nakagawa. While libraries will have to permanently take off the removable underwear on the front cover, this won’t detract from the checkouts. Kids will turn the die-cut pages for multiple readings, trying to guess which pair of underwear belongs to Polar Bear. Is it this colored striped set? Nope, those are Zebra’s. Rude Cakes never say please or thank you, and they never say they’re sorry, because they are never, ever wrong. But what happens when a Rude Cake meets a Giant Cyclops? Find out in Rude Cakes (June) by Rowboat Watkins. In this deliciously entertaining book, a not-so-sweet cake gets its just desserts. Stella’s class is having a Mother’s Day celebration, but what’s a girl with two daddies to do? Stella Brings the Family (May), by Miriam Schiffer and illustrated by Holly Clifton-Brown, celebrates and embraces families in many forms. “Don’t despair about all the pink princess glut out there,” says Chronicle editor Melissa Manlove. When the Prince’s spaceship is in trouble, Cinderella comes to the rescue with a little bit of help from her fairy godrobot in Interstellar Cinderella (May), by Deborah Underwood and illustrated by Meg Hunt. This is a refreshing tale with a much needed revamp of happy endings. In A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School . . . (March) by Davide Cali and Benjamin Chaud, the first thing that happens is that some giant ants steal breakfast. Then there are evil ninjas, a massive ape, mysterious mole people, giant blobs, and countless other daunting detours along the way to school. It’s thrilling to have another offering from Cali and Chaud, the critically acclaimed author/illustrator team behind I Didn’t Do My Homework Because . . . (2014). In the book The Water And the Wild (April) by K.E. Ormsbee, a door opens in an apple tree and the character Lottie enters it, hoping to find a cure for the incurable and a use for the useless. While there are a lot of middle grade fantasies out there, editor Melissa Manlove calls the title “a stunning debut voice in a genuinely unique, unequivocally magical setting.” Throughout this book, illustrator Elsa Mora’s three-dimensional pieces—with more than a dozen layers and hundreds of individual pieces of paper—do a superb job of creating a book package that is as lush, otherworldly, and wild as the story.

Author Elena Dunkle meets with librarians at the preview. Photo by Sarah Lin

Beth Kephart’s YA novel One Thing Stolen (April) is set in Florence. Nadia Cara is the victim of a rare degenerative brain disease that causes its victims to lose the ability to speak while retaining normal brain function, except for a boost in creativity. Nadia is also falling in love with a boy—whom no one else can see. After meeting featured author Elena Dunkle at the preview and receiving a signed galley copy of her memoir Elena Vanishing (May), I started reading it on the way back home. It’s as good and original as Chronicle children’s publishing director Ginee Seo says it is. Dunkle’s own battle with anorexia began after a brutal rape she’d experienced at age 13, and she has lost over 24 close friends in the last four years from eating disorder-related deaths. The book is terrific so far, with internal dialogue that any teen will relate to. And Dunkle is a passionate speaker. I’ve already invited her for an author visit for my own teen patrons. Dunkle’s mother, Clare, has written about her own experiences with her daughter’s disease in Hope and Other Luxuries: A Mother’s Life with A Daughter’s Anorexia (May).