For signed and personalized books, visit Once Upon A Time Bookstore.
Kafka and the Doll
(Viking / Penguin)
Inspired by a true story, Kafka and the Doll recounts a remarkable gesture of kindness from one of the world’s most bewildering and iconic writers. In the fall of 1923, Franz Kafka encountered a distraught little girl on a walk in the park. She’d lost her doll and was inconsolable. Kafka told her the doll wasn’t lost, but instead, traveling the world and having grand adventures! And to reassure her, Kafka began delivering letters from the doll to the girl for weeks.
The legend of Kafka and the doll has captivated imaginations for decades as it reveals the playful and compassionate side of a man known for his dark and brooding tales. Kafka and the Doll is a testament to living life to the fullest and to the life-changing power of storytelling.
Coming March 9, 2021.
A Way With Wild Things
(Bloomsbury)
Poppy loves nature, and can be found carrying on conversations with ladybugs or singing with cicadas, but good luck spotting her indoors and around people! She's a master of camouflage, always finding a way to blend into her surroundings. Some might call her a wallflower.
At a party, Poppy stays out of sight. But when a very special bug lands on the cake, Poppy can't resist popping out to see it. Soon, the rest of the guests notice the beautiful dragonfly, and Poppy, too. Maybe she's not a wallflower after all, but a wildflower.
This poetic and evocative story celebrates the shy and introverted kids among us, as well as the other small creatures to be found if we look closely enough.
Born to Ride: A Story About Bicycle Face
(Abrams)
Louisa Belinda Bellflower lives in Rochester, New York, in 1896. She spends her days playing with her brother, Joe. But Joe gets to ride a bicycle, and Louise Belinda doesn’t. In fact, Joe issues a solemn warning: If girls ride bikes, their faces will get so scrunched up, eyes bulging from the effort of balancing, that they’ll get stuck that way FOREVER! Louise Belinda is appalled by this nonsense, so she strikes out to discover the truth about this so-called “bicycle face.”
Set against the backdrop of the women’s suffrage movement, Born to Ride is the story of one girl’s courageous quest to prove that she can do everything the boys can do, while capturing the universal freedom and accomplishment children experience when riding a bike.
"An important part of history engagingly told." –Kirkus Reviews
Junior Library Guild selection
How Do You Do?
(Bloomsbury)
Water Buffalo and Crane's field is dry, empty, and hot--so hot that they can barely think of anything else. Every day is the same . . .
Until one day, they hear something new.
"How do you do?"
When Goat dances into their lives, Water Buffalo and Crane can't help but join in. Suddenly their field doesn't seem dry, empty, and hot at all. Even after Goat dances away, their world is no longer so small.
This beautiful story about widening your horizons and making new friends, brought to life with stunning illustrations by Gianna Marino, shows how all it takes is one special friend to change your world.
“Joyful.” –Booklist | “Engaging.” –SLJ
Bank Street Best Children's Books of the Year
Fat & Bones: And Other Stories
(Carolrhoda / Lerner)
Welcome to Bald’s farm. Well, perhaps it’s not Bald’s farm anymore. The old man has kicked the bucket, setting off a wave of conflict from the flooded farmhouse kitchen to the muddy pig pen to the tall wheat fields. In this darkly funny, slightly supernatural chain of tales, no creature is safe. Not Leonard Grey, a spider with sophisticated tastes. Not Esmeralda, a resentful one-legged pig. Not Tulip, a plant with a mean streak. And as for Bones, the old man’s son, and Fat, his winged rival? They’ll learn that danger lurks in the strangest of places…
"Charlotte's Web by way of Neil Gaiman." –PW, starred review