One of the picture books I’ve been eagerly anticipating is finally here: Caldecott’s Medal winner (WOLF IN THE SNOW) Matthew Cordell’s KING ALICE, about a little girl and her family stuck indoors on a snowy day. When Alice’s dad suggests she create her own book to combat snow day boredom, all sorts of imaginative shenanigans ensue!
So imagine my delight when I was able to interview Matthew Cordell about his books, his family, winning the Caldecott and more! Here’s what Matthew had to say:
It’s my great pleasure today to get to chat with debut author Rachel Toalson, one of our wonderful Texas authors of books for young adults. She’ll be in store on Sunday, 9/23, discussing and signing her novel THE COLORS OF RAIN, which is set here in Houston, in the tumultuous 1970s.
Poet Fatimah Asghar has written a substantial amount of striking and intimate work in her debut collection If They Come for Us. In this collection, Asghar digs into themes of national and personal identity, chronicling her development as a young immigrant into her teens and young adulthood in America. She relates a dissonance in her identity, the struggle to “Map Home” as she balances her people's history with her developing identity in America.
As you might know, we keep a running updated list of bestselling books each week. A lot of bookstores and organizations do this –– obviously there's a New York Times bestseller list, Publishers Weekly's list, and way, way more. But if you check out our bestselling books, often there's something very special to each title. Below, check out a few of this week's bestsellers and why we're so proud to share them.
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Published: Legacy Lit - July 24th, 2018
Ibtihaj was the first Muslim-American woman to medal at the Olympic games, and has been named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People. If that alone isn't enough to thrill you, think about this: on the heels of starting her own clothing line, organization, AND inspiring the first hijabi Barbie (modeled after her likeness), Ibtihaj came to Brazos for a packed event, sharing both this title and the Young Readers version (also on our bestsellers list). Plus, she's on the SABER fencing squad. Now, that should thrill you.
Don’t know about Attica Locke? You should. She's the award-winning author of Pleasantville, Black Water Rising, and The Cutting Season, along with being a writer and producer for the show Empire. We've hosted her multiple times for her releases, at Brazos and in other locations (including our local library). Though Attica lives in LA now, she’s a Houston native, and we adore her smart, Houston area-based mystery fiction.
Caroline Leech is another locally-based author on our bestseller list, and we couldn’t be more proud! Though she’s a beloved Houston writer now, Caroline Leech grew up in Scotland, which informs the setting of her gorgeous, romantic historical fiction. We recently interviewed her about In Another Time, which is her second book. Check it out here.
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Published: Coffee House Press - September 4th, 2018
We are thrilled to have Guadalupe Nettel’s After the Winter on our bestseller list for multiple reasons.
1. Most generally: we prize indie presses at Brazos (as you may know, based on our obsessive posts and recommendations). These presses do huge work representing independent thought and intellect, and as an indie bookstore, we share values with many of these fabulous folks. Coffee House Press is high on that list.
3. We interviewed her a few years ago, but now we’re actually bringing her to Houston! She will be at Brazos Bookstore later this month in conversation with Rodrigo Hasbun (author of The Affections). Check out the event page here, preorder a book to get personalized, and geek out with us on September 18!
While you may think of Houston merely as the city with the best bookstore in the world (har har), it’s home to so many integral industries and barrier-breaking individuals. Mimi Swartz, one of the editors at Texas Monthly, does a wonderful job of encapsulating the research process that went into creating the first artificial heart. This book is dazzling, featuring an array of characters (many of whom walk among us). Be still our hearts.
I have been a fan of Courtney Summers’ work for awhile now. She is a fearless, hard-hitting YA writer, not afraid of putting on the page the issues that teenage girls face: sexual violence and poverty being just two. Her newest YA novel, Sadie, is simply brilliant -- the story of a girl seeking revenge for the brutal murder of her younger sister alternating with the transcript of a podcast about that same girl’s POV.
I first heard Luisa Muradyan read her poetry on a cold and rainy night in the fall of 2016. It was a Glass Mountain event, one of the first readings I ever attended, so I didn’t even really know what was going on in the writing community yet, but I heard her read and thought she was simply amazing.
Although he’s had more than seven books (novels and story collections) published in Spanish, THE OWLS ARE NOT WHAT THEY SEEM is Bernardo Esquinca’s first collection in English. In a gorgeous bilingual edition, these stories introduce the English language reader to the strange, eerie world of Esquinca.
One of the things I love best about my colleagues here at Brazos is that every day, we challenge each other to broaden our reading. Whether it’s Sara encouraging us to read Women in Translation or Mark getting excited about Latin American novels in translation or Keaton putting strange and wonderful literary gems in our hands or dozens of other moments, we collectively explore the world through the books we discover--and are able to pass on to our customers.
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Published: Neal Porter Books - September 4th, 2018
We will have this in both English and Spanish. The English version is effortlessly bilingual, and the illustrations are breathtaking. I’ve been a fan of Yuyi Morales since I heard her speak at the national SCBWI conference in LA, and I’ve made it a point to stock her book since I came to Brazos. Her picture book Horrendous Hermanitos, a bilingual wrestling adventure, is a store favorite. Dreamers is inspired by Yuyi’s own immigration story, and obviously it couldn’t be a more timely tale.
We are so thrilled that this YA fantasy gem from a French author is now available in an impeccable translation. A girl named Ophelia who can read the past of objects. Who can travel through mirrors. And who gets promised off in marriage, sent far away to ‘a cold icy ark known as the Pole’ and realizes she is part of a political game that could affect everything she knows and loves. Winter’s Promise is being compared to American YA titles as Margaret Rogers’ An Enchantment of Ravens; Melissa Albert’s The Hazelwood; V.S. Schwab’s Shades of Magic, and our very popular summer reading title, Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone –– both in its fantasy content as well as the gorgeous scope of the store.
A note from Laura: This is Europa’s first foray into Young Adult novels and I couldn’t be more excited! You may know Europa Editions for their beloved adult titles such as Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series or Muriel Barbery’s The Elegance of the Hedgehog. A Winter's Promise is the first book in the world-wide best selling Mirror Visitor Quartet. A lush, romantic tale about family, duty, and discovering your independence, this book is going to be a crowd pleaser!