The Weekly 411 (1/5/24)
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| © Susi Schaeffer |
Jan. 5, 2024 vol. 1
The Weekly 411 gathers all the links added to Kidlit411 each week. To receive this post by email, sign up for our email updates. Are you on Facebook? Join our Kidlit411 group for conversations and camaraderie. This week's illustration is by Susi Schaeffer.
We are pleased to host a giveaway of the picture book, A Gift for Nai Nai, written and illustrated by Kim-Hoa Ung (Feiwel & Friends 2023). Enter to win a copy via the Rafflecopter below!
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About the Book: Lyn Lyn's beloved Nai Nai has a birthday party approaching! All Lyn Lyn wants to do is make a lucky hat for her very special grandma, but her crochet skills are not nearly as refined as Nai Nai's. So Lyn Lyn hatches a plan for the best crocheter she knows to help her make the perfect lucky hat for Nai Nai! Through perseverance and their special bond, Lyn Lyn comes to realize that the perfect gift for Nai Nai comes from within.
About the Author-Illustrator: Kim-Hoa Ung is a Chinese American author-illustrator and amigurumi artist. Just like Lyn Lyn, she crocheted hats for her grandma. When Kim-Hoa is not creating stories, you can find her crocheting pieces for art shows, sending snail mail, and making arts and crafts with her kids. She lives with her family in Southern California. A Gift for Nai Nai is her debut picture book.
About the Book: The near future is progressively free from discrimination based on race, class, and sexual orientation. But in a world populated by the gifted, fifteen-year-old Alejandro Aragon (Alé) is part of the only remaining minority—he’s a Deficient. Powerless. The one that accelerated genetics left behind.
Alé knows that he’ll need a miracle to graduate and pursue his dream of a legal career in the capital. His only ally is his best friend Yalamba, an outspoken and exceptionally gifted artist renowned for her unique ability to draw things into existence. But when she’s kidnapped in a hate crime against her ability, it appears that Alé has every motive and no believable alibi. To prove his innocence and track down the real culprit, Alé teams up with the other outcasts in school, who each have their own reasons for getting involved. But the deeper they dig, the more they fear Yalamba’s kidnapping is linked to a string of unsolved murders against the exceptionally gifted.
With time running out, Alé must discover who he really is if he and his new friends plan to track down the culprit, clear his name, and rescue Yalamba—all before she herself is drawn out of existence.
About the Author: Michael Solis is from New Jersey and currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya. He has spent most of the past sixteen years working in development and humanitarianism in Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Latin America. A Princeton graduate, he has master's degrees in human rights law and gender studies. While traveling, he fell in love with telling thought-provoking stories based on his personal experiences. Deficient is his debut novel.
Such a wonderful blog post highlighting two amazing books and authors!
ReplyDeleteBoth books sound fun to read!
ReplyDeleteGreat books. Great post. And great giveaways :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely love these weekly 411 posts! Thanks for all you do for the kidlit community!
ReplyDeleteThe books sound amazing, and it's great to have a chance to win. Thank you. I also have to mention how much I LOVE the illustration by Susi Schaeffer! My mom retired from being a university professor in her 70s and got herself a faster jetski as a retirement present. This illustration conjures many wonderful memories, even though this "grandma" is on land, not water. Thanks for featuring this adorable image.
ReplyDeleteA Gift for Nai Nai sounds heartwarming and relatable for readers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great post! The site is only allowing me to comment anonymously... This is Claire Freeland!
ReplyDeleteLove the idea of crocheting a gift for grandma! Thanks for featuring both these new books
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great links.
ReplyDeleteWow, great books! Congratulations to both of you!
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