Spring 2013

Cover, left column from top to bottom: Illustration from Paperboy 2013 by Chris Sheban; illustration from The Flame in the Mist 2013 by Chris Rahn; illustration from Dualed 2013 by Michael Heath Right column, from top to bottom: Illustration from Rump 2013 by Zdenko Basic; illustration from Strands of Bronze and Gold 2013 by Ilina Simeonova/Trevillion Images

andom House Childrens Books is dedicated to cultivating and nurturing new talent. With proven editorial acumen, rich sales and marketing resources, publicity savvy, and production and design excellence, the Random House Childrens Books team has worked together with its authors to give readers proven first-time successes such as New York Times bestsellers Eragon by Christopher Paolini and A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray, as well as The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens, and Newbery Award winner Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool. The future of the book industry lies with new literary voices. For that reason, we are committed to growing alongside our authors by implementing unique publishing and marketing programs that enhance our lists and deliver continued success stories to you: the bookseller, the teacher, the librarian. We know that it is the love of childrens literature we share with you that helps get these new voices into readers hands and, for this, we thank you.

New for Spring 2013!

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Its a Second! Second novels from former Its a First! novelists see p. 18 New for Summer 2012 see p. 21 New for Fall 2012 see p. 22

Dualed
Written by Elsie Chapman Edited by Chelsea Eberly
ISBN: 978-0-307-93154-2 $16.99/$19.99 Can. Young Adult Fiction On Sale: 2/26/2013

from

the editor
I read Elsie Chapmans chilling novel, Dualed, in one sitting on the morning it was pitched to me. The powerful, raw world of Kersh pulled me in and refused to let go. Here, teens must prepare for the day when they will have one month to hunt down and kill their Altstwins raised by other families. Only one version of each person is worthy of the citys limited resources. Survival means advanced schooling, work, marriagelife.

Photo Ross Margelefsky

Full of action, suspense, and unexpected romance, this is a book that makes you think. What kind of society wants every adult to be a murderer? How far would you go to protect those you love? Would you be more successful if you just had different parents? How would you feel knowing that the other you out there might be the better version? Dualed is one of those fantastic reads where you turn the last page and then turn to the person next to you to begin talking about it. Enjoy!

Chelsea Eberly
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from

DUALED
I
slide into the empty quiet of the alleys darkness, dropping immediately into a crouch. For cover, its more than adequate. My Alt is directly across from me. I can see the black silk of her hair, the compact build of her shoulders over the line of parked cars on the street behind her. Its not much, but itll do. Ive hit my mark with less of a target before. To have come this far, it seems almost anticlimactic. Has it all come down to this, then? To finally extricate her from my life like yanking out a nagging thorn? I think back to when I first saw herwhen the sight of her froze me in my tracks and reduced me to nothing more than useless, second best, unworthy. I breathe in, exhale deeply, roughly. Its not going to happen again. I wont let it. Slowly, I ease the gun from my pocket. Its nearly weightless in my hand now, as though its always been mine. I raise it with an arm that is rock steady and true. My pulse is a steady thrum along my wrists, down the front of my neck and into my chest. The target on her back calls to me. My eyes zero in so that its the only thing I see. I aim, and my finger starts to squeeze down on the trigger, curling, flexing, and then A flurry of movement. My Alt is pulling out her cell again. Shes speaking into it, and this time she seems almost annoyed, agitated as she glances from side to side. Her movements are all over the place, and I swear to myself in frustration. A nonstatic target, no matter

I think back to when I first saw herwhen the sight of her froze me in my tracks and reduced me to nothing more than useless, second best, unworthy.

how steady the shooters arm, is a risk to those around itespecially in an area this packed. I want to think Im steady enough that I wont hit anyone else. But Id be lying. My hand trembles, the gun wavering. I can feel a drop of sweat dribble down my hairline and come to a rest along my jaw. Its cold, even colder than the air around me. Shes staring at something to her left, still speaking urgently into her cell. Suddenly things are in motion, so quickly and frantically they tumble over each other like crazed, rabid animals trying to tear one another apart. The cell slips from my Alts hand and hits the ground. I watch, unable to move, as my Altin one smooth motion that has her hair swirling around her in a perfect pirouetteswivels her head and stares right at me.

Photo Mike Meskin

Elsie Chapman lives in Vancouver, in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband and two children, where she writes to music turned up way too loud. Visit Elsie at ElsieChapman.com.

The Flame in the Mist

Written by Kit Grindstaff Edited by Michelle Poploff
ISBN: 978-0-385-74290-0 $16.99/$19.99 Can. Middle-Grade Fiction On Sale: 4/9/2012

from

the editor

I was quite taken with this magical and suspenseful tale set in an imagined past in a mist-shrouded place called Anglavia. The story rests on the capable shoulders of young fiery-headed Jemma, a feisty heroine whose untapped powers might be the only hope for a kingdom in peril. Joining Jemma is her trusted friend Digby and her two telepathic golden rats, Noodle and Pie, who communicate with her. I think readers will root for Jemma who faces enemies both human and supernatural as she works to defeat the evil forces, fulfill a prophecy, restore peace to Anglavia, and bring the sun back to its shrouded skies. Its quite a tall order, but if you enjoy the kinds of adventures written by Philip Pullman, then place this on your must read pile.

Michelle Poploff

from

The Flame in The misT

PROLOGUE: THE ROOT OF REVENGE About three hundred years before elp mehelp! A weary voice from outside. A fist, hammering on the door. The boy turned from the fire, and the potion he was stirring. Who would call at this hour, before dawn had yet dusted the town rooves? He ran to the door and flung it open.

I have no more use of my familys evil ways, she whispered. That part of my life have I left at the castle. Would that thou believst me!

A girl stood on the step. She was wild-haired and filthy, silken robes hanging in rags about her small frame. She could not have seen more than twelve winters, perhaps thirteen. The same as he. Help me, I beg of thee, said she, breathless as a hunted fawn, for I know not where else to turn . . . In her black eyes, he saw the horrors she had witnessed: the killings, the terrors of her flight He clamped down his thoughts to prevent himself from seeing more, and reached out his hand. As she took it, he noticed the Stone hanging around her neck, its blue-green blaze promising magic. But the gold crest embroidered on the shoulder-pouch she carried made his heart freeze. The Agromond crest. The girl was an Agromond. She saw him looking, and turned the pouch around to hide the crest. I have no more use of my familys evil ways, she whispered. That part of my life have I left at the castle. Would that thou believst me! Everything about the girl told him she spoke the truth. Her eyes. Her aura. The softness of her touch. I believe you, he whispered. Come. Warm yourself by our hearth.
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from

The Flame in The misT

continued

The instant she stepped over the threshold, Visions tumbled through his head. He saw all that her Gifts would now bring to the service of healing and Light, instead of to the Agromonds and their Darkness. And he also saw the terrible events that would unfold because of her betrayal of her family. Greater poverty. Greater misery. The Mist spreading, covering the sun. The Agromonds, meting out their fury on the Anglavian people for generations to come. Then far, far in the future, another girl flickered into his minds eye. One with fiery-colored hair like his own. One through whom the Agromonds would attempt to take out their greatest revenge, and achieve their greatest gain. Yet she would also be a danger to them His Vision clouded. He could not see the outcome. But he wished fervently that there was something he could do to help her. For he knew in his bones that she would be the only hope for peace and prosperity to reign once more. The Fire One, he murmured, as he settled his beautiful, ragged guest by the hearth. Thus shall this future one be known.

Photo Laura Pedrick

Kit Grindstaff was born in England. After a brief brush with pop stardom she moved to New York and became a songwriter. Kit now lives with her husband in Pennsylvania.

Paperboy
Written by Vince Vawter Edited by Franoise Bui
ISBN: 978-0-385-74244-3 $16.99/$19.99 Can. Middle-Grade Fiction On Sale: 5/14/2013

from

the editor
In March 2011, a month after The Kings Speech took home numerous Oscars, an agent sent me a manuscript titled Paperboy. Like said film, Paperboy features a protagonist who stutters. Timely, certainly. So I brought it home, hoping it would be a good story. It was! It was more than good.

Paperboy is a beautifully nuanced and textured coming-of-age tale set in Tennessee, in 1959. Against the backdrop of the segregated South, an eleven-year-old white boy takes over his friends paper route for the month of July, forcing him to interact with the customers, as well as with the neighborhood junkmana lowlife his familys black housekeeper has told him to steer clear of. Is it any wonder this is a summer of change? Just as The Kings Speech told King George VIs story, Paperboy tells author Vince Vawters. It will resonate with boys and girls who may themselves be stutterers, or who are simply on the cusp of adolescence. This is a novel to fall in love with over and over again.

Franoise Bui
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from

Pap e rb o y
I
m typing about the stabbing for a good reason. I cant talk. Without stuttering. Plus I promised Mam I would never tell what happened to my yellow-handle knife. Mam might say that typing is cheating but I need to see the words on paper to make sure everything happened the way my brain remembers it. I trust words on paper a lot more than words in the air. The funny way I talk is not so much like fat pigs in cartoons as I just get stuck on a sound and try to push the word out. Sometimes it comes out after a little pushing but other times I turn red in the face and lose my breath and get dizzy circles going around in my head. Theres not much I can do about it except think of another word or keep on pushing.

I like the sound the typewriter key makes when it smacks the black ribbon because its always the same. I never know what kinds of sounds are going to come out of my mouth. If anything happens to come out at all.
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The lady my parents hired to show me how to talk is teaching me to use a trick she calls Gentle Air which means letting out a little of my breath before getting stuck on a word. So when I feel like Im going to have trouble saying a word I try to sneak up on it by making a hissing noise. s-s-s-s. When youre eleven years old its better to be called a snake than a retard. Some days if Ive gotten stuck on a bunch of words at school Ill come home and put a piece of notebook paper in the typewriter that someone from my fathers office brought to our house a long time ago and forgot to take back. The same one Im typing these words on now. I peck out the words that gave me the most trouble for the day. My hands know where the letters are and I dont have

to think up different tricks to help me push out a word. I like the sound the typewriter key makes when it smacks the black ribbon because its always the same. I never know what kinds of sounds are going to come out of my mouth. If anything happens to come out at all. Just so you know. I hate commas. I leave them out of my typing any time I think I can get away with it. My composition teacher said a comma meant it was time for a pause. I pause all the time when Im trying to talk whether I want to or not. Humongous pauses. I would rather type a gazillion ands than one little comma. I type so much in my room that the white letters are wearing off the typewriter keys. But the key with the comma on it looks brand-new and it can stay that way if you ask me.

Photo J. Miles Cary

Vince Vawter, a native of Memphis, retired after a career in newspapers, most recently as the president and publisher of the Evansville Courier & Press in Indiana. He lives with his wife in Louisville, Tennessee.

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Rump: The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin

Written by Liesl Shurtliff Edited by Katherine Harrison
ISBN: 978-0-307-97793-9 $16.99/$19.99 Can. Middle-Grade Fiction On Sale: 4/9/2013

from

the editor
Once upon a time, my Grandma Dot would read aloud to the family from tattered volumes of the My Book House collection. We were a rapt audience, always hungry for more damsels and goblins and enchantments. But it was the oddball stories that most caught our interest; stories just a little too peculiar to become Disney Feature Films; stories like Rumpelstiltskin.

Theres something disconcerting about a miniature man haggling for peoples first-born children. I could never understand why he wanted a child to begin withnot to mention why the millers daughter accepted the bargain! Thats why Liesl Shurtliffs retelling is so satisfying. By casting Rumpelstiltskin in the lead role, shes able to answer all those tricky questions. And instead of a villain, she gives us Rump: a spiritedthough haplesstwelve-year-old boy, who wins our hearts even as he digs himself deeper into trouble. I think Kirby Larson sums it up best when she says, Liesl Shurtliff does more than spin words into goldshe gets us rooting for Rumpelstiltskin, a most magical feat.

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Katherine Harrison

from

y mother named me after a cows rear-end. Its the favorite village joke, and probably the only one, but its not really true. At least I dont think its true, and neither does Gran. Really, my mother had another name for me, a wonderful name, but no one ever heard it. They only heard the first part. The worst part. Mother had been very ill when I was born. Gran said she was fevered and coughing and I came before I was supposed to. Still, my mother held me close and whispered my name in my ear. No one heard it but me. His name? Gran asked. Tell me his name. His name is Rump . . . haaa-cough-cough-cough . . . Gran gave Mother something warm to drink and pried me from her arms. Tell me his name Anna. All of it. But Mother never did. She took a breath and then let out all the air and didnt take any more in. Ever.

UM P R

In the kingdom your name isnt just what people call you. Your name is your destiny.

Gran said that I cried then, but I never hear that in my imagination. All I hear is silence. The fire doesnt crack and even the pixies are still. Finally, Gran holds me up and says, Rump. His name is Rump. The next morning the village bells chimed and the gnomes ran all over The Mountain crying, Rump! Rump! The new boys name is Rump! My name couldnt be changed or taken back, because in The Kingdom your name isnt just what people call you. Your name is your destiny. My destiny really stinks. ~
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I tried not to think about my destiny too much, but on my birthday I always did. On my twelfth birthday I thought of nothing else. I sat in the mine, swirling mud around in a pan. We needed gold, gold, gold, but all I saw was mud, mud, mud. Butt! Hey Butt! I groaned as Frederick and his brother Bruno approached with menacing grins on their faces. They were twice my size and ugly as trolls. Leave him alone, said a girl named Red. She glared at them, holding her shovel over her shoulder like a weapon. Oh, said Frederick. Do you love Butt? Thats not his name, growled Red. Then what is it? Why doesnt he tell us? Rump! I said without thinking. My name is Rump! They burst out laughing. I had done just what they wanted. But thats not my real name! I said, desperately. What do you think his real name is? asked Bruno. Frederick pretended to think very hard. Something unusual. Something special . . . Cow Rump . . . Baby Rump. Rump Roast! Everyone laughed. Frederick and Bruno fell over each other, tears streaming down their faces. They rolled in the dirt and squealed like pigs.
Liesl Shurtliff was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Just like Rump, Liesl was shy about her name, growing up. Not only did it rhyme with weasel, she could never find it on any of those personalized key chains in gift shops. But over the years shes grown to love having an unusual nameand today she wouldnt change it for the world! Rump is her first novel.

UM P R

continued

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Strands of Bronze and Gold

Written by Jane Nickerson Edited by Allison Wortche
ISBN: 978-0-307-97598-0 $16.99/$19.99 Can. Young Adult Fiction On Sale: 3/12/2013

from

the editor
I am in love with this stunning debuta Gothic thriller set in the preCivil War South, based on the sinister Bluebeard fairy tale. When seventeen-year-old Sophie Petherams father dies, she is grateful to receive an invitation from her mysterious guardian to come live at Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi. But as she begins to piece together the story of her godfathers pastand catch whispers of his former wives, all with hair as red as her ownshe sinks deeper and deeper into his dangerously intoxicating world.

So many elements make Strands of Bronze and Gold an unforgettable book: the romance (both the poisonously passionate kind and the maybe-true-love kind), the rich historical setting, the touch of supernatural, and the spine-tingling suspense. Jane Nickerson has turned the creeeeeeeepy Bluebeard fairy tale into a, breathtaking novel. Welcome to Wyndriven Abbey: Slip on a gorgeous dress and explore the grounds. But dont get too comfortablethis is a house of locked doors and dark secrets.

Allison Wortche
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StrandS Bronze
W

of and G o l d

e entered the section of the house that comprised the former abbey. It reeked of dark, secret crevicesa mixture of mildew and fungus, rot and decay. Once there had been dormitories and cloisters, but long ago those areas had been converted to the usage of a secular household. Once this had been a sacred place, but it had long since been desecrated. On and on we explored. At first I had tried to mentally map out the rooms in relation to one another, but I was soon hopelessly confused and gave up. The housekeeper pointed out various locked doors that she did not open. How was it that among all the glories of this place, those forbidden spaces interested me most? I was a goose. She indicated the double doors closing off the east wing. Youll hear workmen hammering and sawing in there, but the connecting doors are kept locked.

There was such a thing as too much grandeur. Too many rooms to be the dwelling of one man and, now, one girl.

As we passed a door in an upstairs hall she said, That leads to the attics. She leaned in toward me. Theyre full of items that the master desired me to burn, but I cant bear the waste. I have them taken up there and hes no more the wiser. So, the faithful housekeeper had her secrets.

The portrait gallery was lined with three hundred years worth of paintings of the abbeys former owners. My godfather had borrowed all these ancestors. Next to M. Bernards portrait, however, a rectangular, faded patch gaped on the wall. Was that where Monsieur Bernards wifes portrait hung? I asked. Various ladies pictures have hung there, Mrs. Duckworth said stiffly. The master has been married more than once. He does not care to have painful memories thrust upon him, however, so the paintings have been removed.

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I would have asked more, but I saw from Mrs. Duckworths compressed lips that there would come no more information at this time. More than once, she had said. How many marriages? And if there were no ghosts, perhaps there was a mad wife shut up in one of the locked places? Maybe in the east wing, allegedly under renovation? It would be amusing (albeit tragic) to imagine a suitably mad wife for M. Bernard. Hah! Secrets waiting to be uncovered. This house lent itself to mysteries. Eventually I hoped to poke about without Mrs. Duckworth. It took us two hours to tour the house, moving constantly. By the end I was numb, except for my feet, which hurt from treading in tight slippers. I could no longer think up admiring comments. There was such a thing as too many paintings composed of graphic scenes from the Old Testament and mythology. There was such a thing as too much grandeur, too much opulence and curlicues and gold leaf. Too many rooms to be the dwelling of one man and, now, one girl.

For many years Jane Nickerson and her family lived in a big old house in Aberdeen, Mississippi, where she was the childrens librarian. She and her husband now make their home in Ontario, Canada. Visit her at Jane-Nickerson.com.

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Find out what former Its a First! novelists have been up to.
ANNE GREENWOOD BROWN
When dead bodies start washing up on the shores of Lake Superior, Lily fears her father has embraced the mermans natural need to kill. As the body count grows, Lily doesnt know what to believeexcept that whoever is responsible is sure to strike again.

ITS A SECOND!

Its a First!

NEW!

Deep Betrayal

SASHA GOuLD
Love, lust, and deadly secrets permeate the lives of Venices nobility in this thrilling sequel to the romantic and mysterious Cross My Heart. In a society of liars, who can you trust? Laura is about to find out.

Its a First!
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NEW!

Find out what former Its a First! novelists have been up to.
SHAWN GOODMAN

ITS A SECOND!

In a world where kindness is a weakness, how do those who care survive?

Its a First!

NEW!

ALExANDRA MONIR

Combining breathtaking romance with a tale of complex magic, the sequel to Timeless will have every reader believing in the transcendent power of love.

Timekeeper
Its a First!

NEW!
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Find out what former Its a First! novelists have been up to.
DARIA SNADOWSKY
Dominique Baylor has survived her first love, her first time, and her first breakup. But will she ever love anyone as much as her ex?

ITS A SECOND!

Its a First!

NEW!

anatomy of a single girl

CLARE VANDERPOOL
From the author of the Newbery Medal winner Moon Over Manifest comes the odyssey-like adventure of two boys incredible quest on the Appalachian Trail where they deal with pirates, buried secrets, and extraordinary encounters.

n av i g at i n g e a r ly
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Its a First!

NEW!

Visit ItsAFirst.net to catch up with other Random House Childrens Book debut authors and find out what theyve been up to!

Its a FirstSummer 2012!

RandomHouse.com/kids

RandomHouse.com/teens
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Its a FirstFall 2012!

RandomHouse.com/kids
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RandomHouse.com/teens