In this final instalment of the fall preview, Q&Q presents young adult novels and nonfiction titles. Last week’s instalment featured middle grade and graphic novels. The first instalment featured picture books.

Q&Q’s fall preview covers books published between July 1 and Dec. 31, 2024. All information (titles, publication dates) was supplied by publishers.

YOUNG ADULT:

Light Enough to Float
Lauren Seal 
Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Random House Canada, Oct.

Inspired by her own experiences with anorexia, anxiety, and hospitalization, Lauren Seal, writer, librarian, and poet laureate of St. Albert, Alberta, brings readers a deeply moving novel-in-verse that follows teenage Evie as she navigates treatment, recovery, and faces her fears to once again love herself. –Inderjit Deogun 

The Unfinished
Cheryl Isaacs
Heartdrum/HarperCollins Publishers, Sept.

In Mohawk author Cheryl Isaacs’s spine-tingling horror debut, an Indigenous teen stumbles upon an eerie pond full of black water and shape-shifting monsters. Avery dives deep into her Kanien’kéha:ka culture to save her small town and rescue her missing best friend. –Linda Ludke

Fledgling: The Keeper’s Records of Revolution
S.K. Ali
Kokila/Penguin Young Readers Group, Oct.

S.K. Ali’s first foray into speculative sci-fi imagines a dystopian future Earth hovering on the brink of either enlightenment or war. Expect intricate world building, royal and political intrigue, and Ali’s signature blend of angst-ridden relationships and philosophical quandaries. –LL

Defy
Sara de Waard
DCB Young Readers/Cormorant Books, Oct.

When Darius’s little sister, Mahlah, is assigned an imminent Death Date on her 13th birthday, he’ll do anything to save her. But Darius quickly learns that the conspiracy behind Mahlah’s death sentence goes to the very heart of the city of Zalmon and the Book of Zalmon, which predetermines the course of every life. –ID

A Constellation of Minor Bears
Jen Ferguson 
Heartdrum/HarperCollins Publishers, Sept.

Award-winning author Jen Ferguson (The Summer of Bitter and Sweet and Those Pink Mountain Nights) returns with A Constellation of Minor Bears. Molly, who’s grappling with her brother Hank’s traumatic brain injury, her anger at Tray, who couldn’t stop the accident from happening, and her anger at herself for not being there, sets off on a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. It could be just what she needs. That is, until Tray decides to tag along. –ID 

Stranger Skies 
Pascale Lacelle
Margaret K. McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster, Nov.

Pascale Lacelle (Curious Tides) continues her dark academia fantasy series with the atmospheric Stranger Skies. Students on desperate quests through space and time find themselves immersed in the world of a popular novel and its famed author. As they battle sinister forces, they must decide what is real and what is fiction. –LL

Dear Dad
Laura Best
Nimbus Publishing, Nov.

From Nova Scotia author Laura Best, known for her Cammie Turple historical fiction series, comes a thought-provoking contemporary YA novel. Set in 2014, the debates surrounding legalizing medical assistance in dying hit close to home for a teen struggling with his father’s terminal illness. –LL

Under All the Lights
Maya Ameyaw
Annick Press, Oct.

In this novel featuring characters from Maya Ameyaw’s debut When It All Syncs Up, one of Ollie Cheriet’s songs has gone viral, bringing with it a cross-country tour, an album deal, and a chance to help his family financially. But Ollie has major stage fright, a symptom of his anxiety disorder, and the mounting pressure is beginning to deteriorate his mental health. –ID

NONFICTION:

All Consuming
Erin Silver and Suharu Ogawa, ill.
Orca Book Publishers, Sept.

All Consuming, the 16th instalment in the Orca Think series, tackles how our buying habits and obsessions negatively affect the planet. The edition illustrates the pros and cons of making one choice over another, while also spotlighting kids who are making a difference. –ID 

Mother Aspen: A Story of How Forests Cooperate and Communicate
Annette LeBox and Crystal Smith, ill.
Groundwood Books, Sept.

Inspired by scientific research into symbiotic forest ecosystems, B.C. poet and environmental activist Annette LeBox presents a lyrical look at how the trees, fungi, and animals in an aspen grove work together through the seasons and years. Crystal Smith’s luminous illustrations shed more light on the topic. –LL  

By Chance Alone: The Young Readers’ Edition
Max Eisen and Kathy Kacer
HarperCollins, Sept.

Holocaust survivor Max Eisen’s moving 2016 memoir By Chance Alone documents his experience of being forcibly removed from his home in Czechoslovakia and sent to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. This powerful adaptation by award-winning author Kathy Kacer brings Eisen’s important life story to a middle-grade audience. –LL

Genocide: Revised and Expanded Edition
Jane Springer and Santiago Solís, ill.
Groundwood Books, Oct.

In this revised and expanded edition, Jane Springer provides readers with the history of genocide worldwide, including recent events – the killing of the Rohingya in Myanmar, the persecution of the Uyghurs in China, the broader recognition of the genocide of Indigenous Peoples, the resurgence of fighting in Darfur, and the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East – while also asking critical questions: What is genocide? Where has it happened in the past? Who is being threatened by genocide today? And what can we do to prevent this terrible crime from recurring? –ID 

You Can Be an Activist: How to Use Your Strengths and Passions to Make a Difference
Charlene Rocha and Mary Beth Leatherdale; Drew Shannon, ill.
Kids Can Press, Sept.

Youth activist Charlene Rocha and Norma Fleck Award–winning author Mary Beth Leatherdale demonstrate how readers can make a positive difference in the world by doing research, deciding on a goal, making a plan, and getting the work done. This comprehensive how-to handbook, filled with profiles, prompts, and interviews, will inform and inspire budding changemakers. –LL 

Zoom in on Zombies
Kari-Lynn Winters and Catherine Rondina
Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Sept.

The latest entry in the popular Up Close with Animals series dares to delve into the undead creatures that haunt us, including creepy crawling zombies that live in the natural real world around us, from amber snails and carpenter ants to foot fungus, wood ticks, and tardigrades. –LL

Undaunted Ursula Franklin: Activist, Educator, Scientist
Monica Franklin and Erin Della Mattia
Second Story Press, Sept. 

As told lovingly by her daughter Monica Franklin, Undaunted Ursula Franklin chronicles the life of Holocaust survivor, physicist and engineer, educator, and champion of equality, peace, and the vulnerable, Ursula Franklin. An extraordinary woman who exemplifies courage in the face of unimaginable hardship. –ID  

I Wonder About Worlds: Discovering Planets and Exoplanets
James Gladstone and Yaara Eshet, ill.
Owlkids Books, Oct.

James Gladstone and Yaara Eshet, the dynamic duo behind Journey Around the Sun and A Star Explodes, return with another foray into outer space that introduces readers to the solar system and exoplanets. The gorgeous illustrations are accompanied with sidebars that offer additional information. –ID 

How to Be a Color Wizard: Forage and Experiment with Natural Art Making
Jason Logan
MIT Kids Press, Sept.   

Jason Logan, founder of the Toronto Ink Company (maker of ink for Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje), combines art and chemistry in How to Be a Color Wizard. Logan explains the science of colour while providing young readers with quests, recipes, and hands-on activities with material they can find in their own homes and neighbourhoods. The book features both photographs and the author’s stunning homemade-ink illustrations. –ID 

One Hen and Then: The Story of a Small Loan and a Big Dream
Katie Smith Milway and Mary Beth Leatherdale; Tequitia Andrews, ill.
Kids Can Press, Sept.

In One Hen and Then, part of the CitizenKid series and adapted from the bestseller One Hen, young readers gain an understanding of microfinance as they follow Kojo, as he embarks on his dream to become an owner of a thriving business, and helps himself, his family, and his community. –ID  

How to Know a Crow: The Biography of a Brainy Bird
Candace Savage and Rachel Hudson, ill.
Greystone Kids/Greystone Books, Oct.

Prolific Saskatoon-based nature writer Candace Savage follows one crow from hatchling to adulthood. Readers get up close and personal with Oki and explore how clever corvids communicate with one another, play, and how we can interact with them. Rachel Hudson’s gorgeous, detailed illustrations capture a crow’s-eye view of the world. –LL

Stitching Science: Exploring Science from A–Z
Lauren Wright Vartanian and Keltie Thomas
Firefly Books, Sept.

From black hole, DNA, and lichen, to organ, quantum, and weather, Lauren Wright Vartanian, textile artist and founder of Neurons and Nebulas, explores the ABCs of science. Keltie Thomas’s informative text accompanies Wright Vartanian’s breathtaking textile illustrations. –ID 

Bird Eggs: A Young Naturalist’s Guide
Mark Peck
Firefly Books, Sept.

Wildlife photographer and Royal Ontario Museum ornithologist Mark Peck invites budding birders and naturalists along on an expertly guided field exploration of bird eggs in their wide variety of shapes, sizes, and colours. Conservation and protection tips are also included. Full-page photos accompany the informative text. –LL

Poetic text and scientific concepts combine in these new informational picture books. –LL

Wind Is a Dance by Debra Kempf Shumaker and Josée Bisaillon, ill. (Kids Can Press, Oct.) | Hungry for Engineering: Poems to Gnaw On by Kari-Lynn Winters and Lori Sherritt-Fleming; David Whamond, ill. (Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Oct.)