Elizabeth Haidle

The Animal People Choose a Leader Share with friends: Permanent Link: A 2013 story from the Ojibway author Richard Wagamese's posthumous One Drum is excerpted and abridged to create The Animal People Choose a Leader, an affecting, melodic picture book about how, in a time when all the animals could understand one another, they came together to choose a commander.

Pablo Cartaya. Kokila, $18.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-4514-7975-4 Though 12-year-old Cuban American painter Gonzalo Alberto Sánchez García has always been introverted and quiet, his father’s death prompts him to retreat further inward. Intending to cheer him up, Gonzalo’s mother sends him to Mendocino, Calif., to spend time with his curmudgeonly grandfather, famous author Alberto.

Michelle Jabès Corpora. Sourcebooks Fire, $19.99 (528p) ISBN 978-1-4642-2458-4 A prophecy brings together four teens in an Egyptian kingdom destined for upheaval. Haunted by desolate visions, 13-year-old Nefermaat travels from her humble village to train as a priestess in Thonis, the kingdom of Khetara’s capital city. Elsewhere in Thonis, 17-year-old Princess Sitamun bemoans her father’s declining health and uncovers secrets that imperil her own life.