We’ve collected the books debuting on Indiebound’s Indie Bestseller List for the week ending May 15, 2016–a sneak peek at the books everybody will be talking about next month.
(Debuted at #3 in Children’s Illustrated) Thunder Boy Jr. written by Sherman Alexie and illustrated by Yuyi Morales: “Thunder Boy Jr. is named after his dad, but he wants a name that’s all his own. Just because people call his dad Big Thunder doesn’t mean he wants to be Little Thunder. He wants a name that celebrates something cool he’s done, like Touch the Clouds, Not Afraid of Ten Thousand Teeth, or Full of Wonder.” (May 2016)
(Debuted at #4 in Hardcover Fiction) LaRose by Louise Erdrich: “LaRose is quickly absorbed into his new family. Plagued by thoughts of suicide, Nola dotes on him, keeping her darkness at bay. His fierce, rebellious new ‘sister,’ Maggie, welcomes him as a co-conspirator who can ease her volatile mother’s terrifying moods. Gradually he’s allowed shared visits with his birth family, whose sorrow mirrors the Raviches’ own. As the years pass, LaRose becomes the linchpin linking the Irons and the Raviches, and eventually their mutual pain begins to heal.” (May 2016)
(Debuted at #13 in Children’s Illustrated) There Is a Tribe of Kids by Lane Smith: “When a young boy embarks on a journey alone…he trails a colony of penguins, undulates in a smack of jellyfish, clasps hands with a constellation of stars, naps for a night in a bed of clams, and follows a trail of shells, home to his tribe of friends.” (May 2016)