In the June issue, Q&Q looks ahead at fall’s most anticipated books for young readers.

Click on the thumbnails to see highlights of children’s fiction, non-fiction, and picture books.

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<p>Toronto's sitting poet laureate, <b>George Elliott Clarke</b>, will release his first book of verse for children in October. <i>Lasso the Wind: Aurélia's Verses and Other Poems</i> (Nimbus Publishing, $24.95 cl.), which contains collage illustrations by Halifax artist Susan Tooke, promises to be by turns witty and playful, contemplative and profound.<br /> </p><p>The book takes inspiration from two sources. One is Clarke's teenage daughter, for whom he has composed a poem on each of her birthdays (the first nine of which are collected here). The other is her namesake, a work by French Romantic poet and proto-Surrealist Gérard de Nerval. Clarke was reading de Nerval's <i>Aurélia</i> “ which he describes as mystical, and visionary, poetic prose “ during a 2007 stay in Greece, where he wrote, quite spontaneously, most of the poems in his new book.<br /> </p><p><i>Lasso the Wind</i>, which also draws on William Blake's <i>Songs of Innocence and Experience</i>, is not your typical work of nonsense rhyme for kids. <i>Lasso the Wind</i> is a ˜children's book,' yes, but with a few philosophical touches that may appeal to teens and adults, too, Clarke says. Given its origins, it's fitting that the collection is also something of a family affair. Says Clarke: Aurélia helped to edit; her mom's photographs served as models for a few of Susan's paintings; and my late father's font, ˜Bill Clarke Caps,' digitized by Andrew Steeves of Gaspereau Press, provides some of the titles. <br /> “ <i>Stuart Woods</i></p>

George Elliott Clarke

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<p>There is a darkness in <b>Erin Bow</b>'s writing “ a mythical, mysterious reverence that suggests whispered tones and secrets held close. Bow doesn't write superficial, action-packed fantasy for young readers, she creates legends in a way not many authors do anymore, augmenting the shadowy cast of her intricate, fantastical worlds with crisp dialogue, complex characters, and moments of levity. <br /> </p><p>in October, Scholastic Canada will release Bow's follow-up to her 2010 YA debut, <i>Plain Kate</i>, winner of the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award. <i>Sorrow's Knot</i> ($19.99 cl.) tells of a young woman named Otter who has inherited her mother's power to use magical knots to bind the dead, preventing them from roaming the Earth and preying on the living. Otter's world is a dangerous place, a darkened forest where general unease and fear of what lurks in the shadows are a way of life. <br /> </p><p>Though not a sequel to its predecessor, the story bears some similarities: a young female protagonist who must face astounding challenges, a setting that is nowhere in time but that feels vaguely historical, and magic “ lots and lots of magic. If Bow can temper the bleaker aspects of her tale with as much grace as she exhibited in her first novel, the world of YA fantasy may well have a new master in its midst. <br /> “ <i>Dory Cerny</i></p>

Erin Bow

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<p>Cybèle Young's picture books reveal a duality in the artist's style. Having garnered international renown for her paper sculptures, Young displayed the influence of this medium in the artwork for <i>A Few Blocks</i> (2011) and its sequel, <i>A Few Bites</i> (2012), which the artist first created as sculpture before translating it to the page. <br /> </p><p>Those whimsical illustrations, complete with soft colours and cute (but not cutesy) siblings Viola and Ferdie, are in stark contrast to the intricate black-and-white drawings featured in Young's other 2011 release, <i>Ten Birds</i>, for which she won the Governor General's Literary Award for illustration. This sophisticated style “ quickly becoming unique in a picture-book landscape littered with digitally created, cartoonish artwork “ is on display again in <i> <b>Ten Birds Meet a Monster</b></i> (KidsCan Press, $18.95 cl.). <br /> </p><p>Young's subtle humour “ a constant in all of her books “ informs the text as the birds are faced with a new challenge. Will the one they call Brilliant save the day? Find out in September. <br /> “<i> DC</i><br /> </p>

Cybèle Young

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