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This
book cover image released by Little, Brown Books for Young
Readers shows children's book "Thunder Boy Jr."
written by Sherman Alexie and illustrated by Yuyi Morales.
The book will be released in May of 2016
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Hes already a poet, short story writer, adult fiction
author, young adult writer, and filmmaker (whew), but The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian author Sherman Alexie is making
his first foray into books for even younger readers. Little, Brown
Books for Young Readers is expected to publish Alexies first
picture book Thunder Boy Jr. May 2016, so you should probably already
have it on your list for any baby showers or young birthdays next
spring.
But the news gets even better: Alexie will collaborate with
Yuyi Morales, the Caldecott Medal-winning creator of Viva Frida.
Its almost too much talent for one picture book.
Thunder Boy Jr. will be about a young boy who wants to have
his own name, rather than share his fathers name as a junior.
The Spokane/Coeur dAlene Indian Alexie has been breaking
barriers and earning massive acclaim since back in 1993 when he
won the PEN/Hemingway Award for Best First Book of Fiction for his
debut short story collection The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight
in Heaven. Alexie then adopted his own stories into the 1998 movie
Smoke Signals, the first movie to have the entire production team
and cast of Native American descent.
But you YA lit readers probably best know Alexie from his National
Book Award for Young Peoples Literature-winning The Absolutely
True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, following Spokane Indian Junior
who transfers to an all-white school. It took home, essentially,
all the awards after it was published in 2007, including School
Library Journal Best Book of the Year and the Boston Globe-Horn
Book Award. It sold 1.5 million copies, which is no slouch.
And after Thunder Boy Jr., we are going to be forced to ask
ourselves if theres anything Sherman Alexie cant do.
Your spoiler alert: Probably no.
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