“An uplifting true story of a determined young boy, his love of a game, and the belief that every child needs a nearby place to play ball.”

Set in 1958, a young boy and his friends want to be baseball players just like their Dodger idols. There’s just one problem: they don’t have a field to play in. Luckily, the kids know a secret. There’s a mansion around the corner with a yard big enough for an entire ball field and the hedge surrounding it has a gap just big enough to crawl through. Apparently, the owner is a big-time Hollywood mogul. He won’t mind a few ball games, right?

The new children’s book Can We Play Baseball, Mr. DeMille? (FriesenPress, April 2023, ISBN: 9781039153844, Hardcover) by renowned writer Mark Angelo centers on one young boy’s devotion to baseball and the newly arrived LA team, the Dodgers. With its rich and colorful illustrations, children can join Mark as he and his friends try to find a place where they can play ball like their heroes. Just when it seems they’ve found the perfect spot, they run into more trouble—Will their unforgettable encounter with a Hollywood legend end in a foul? Or will Mr. DeMille tell the kids, “Play ball!”?

Can We Play Baseball, Mr. DeMille? is an inspiring, true story that speaks to the nostalgia, joy, and importance of community when it comes to having a place for children to gather & play. There’s even a slice of classic Hollywood history! Dedicated to the memory of Angelo’s brother Chris and set just as “Dodger-mania” gripped the city of Los Angeles, this sensational true story is full of youthful determination and summer fun. Baseball fans of all ages will enjoy Can We Play Baseball, Mr. DeMille?, whether they’re new to the game or just want to pass their life-long love down to younger enthusiasts. Angelo’s book is officially licensed through Major League Baseball.

About the Author

MARK ANGELO has been a baseball fan since he was a little boy! He is also a globally renowned river conservationist and the founder of World Rivers Day, now celebrated by millions of people in over one hundred countries. Among his many accolades, Mark is a recipient of the Order of Canada, the country’s highest honor. His acclaimed debut children’s book, The Little Creek that Could, is the true story of a stream that came back to life. Through his work with groups such as the Outdoor Recreation Council of BC, Mark has been a long-time advocate for outdoor spaces for all to enjoy. Can We Play Baseball, Mr. DeMille?, about a young boy’s search for a place to play ball, recounts an actual experience from his childhood. Mark lives in Burnaby, British Columbia, with his wife, Kathie.

Can We Play Baseball, Mr. DeMille?
By Mark Angelo
Illustrated by Patricia and Robin DeWitt
FriesenPress
Publication Date: April 2023
ISBN: 9781039153837 | 9781039153844 | 9781039153851
Format: Paperback | Hardcover | eBook
Page Count: 38

To learn more about Mark Angelo, please visit: https://www.canweplaybaseballmrdemille.com/

“‘I’ve found the perfect solution,’ he said, reading the headline aloud: ‘How American Jews Claim Their Jewish Heritage in Israel.’ Beneath the headline, there was a photo of a group of young people standing in front of the SS Jerusalem II, a ship that sailed from New York to Haifa for the Zim Lines. ‘That could be you,’ he said, pointing to the picture. For the first time in a week, he was actually smiling. Her father had come up with a new plan, one that he approved of. ‘I’ll send you to Israel.’”

Susan Reich has spent her whole childhood in a small neighborhood near New York City, living comfortably with her father. At seventeen, she decides to turn away from the neatly plotted out life ahead of her and confronts her father about taking a gap year. The two are at odds until he proposes a way for them to both get what they want: Susan can postpone college so long as she spends her gap year abroad in Israel searching for her long-lost uncle.

The Girl Who Counted Numbers (Amsterdam Publishers, October 12^th 2022, 978-9493276360) is the story of an independent, Jewish-American girl who leaves for Israel to solve a family mystery. The hunt for any evidence of her uncle takes her to unexpected places where she must confront parts of the past she never knew. With the infamous Adolf Eichmann trial happening in the backdrop of The Girl Who Counted Numbers, Susan begins unraveling these complex layers of history and is drawn into the tense political climate of a post-Holocaust Israel. As she gets more and more involved in the struggles of her Israeli and Jewish-Moroccan friends, she explores awakening emotions and discovers her own interest in truth, justice, and activism.

“All families must deal with the past in order to move forward, but for some families that is harder than for others. Roslyn Bernstein’s beautiful new novel chronicles one family’s difficult quest for peace. Moving, nuanced and inspiring, this gripping book rings achingly true.” —Gish Jen, Author, Thank You, Mr. Nixon

In 1961, author Roslyn Bernstein spent 7 months in Jerusalem. She was present during part of the Adolf Eichmann Trial—often cited as the event that sparked public awareness of the atrocities committed during the Holocaust— and listened to the stories of immigrants and survivors and daydreamed about their meanings. Her trip was a source of inspiration for The Girl Who Counted Numbers. Susan’s story, while fictional, is heavily influenced by real issues of politics, history, and identity that permeated Israel in the aftermath of the Holocaust and even today. The Girl Who Counted Numbers is a nuanced, thrilling tale about discovering a past and confronting one’s identity.

The Girl Who Counted Numbers
By Rosyln Bernstein
Amsterdam Publishers
ISBN: 978-9493276369
Publication Date: October 12, 2022
Original Trade Paperback
Price: $19.95
Pages: 284

How does your normal, average teenager who has visited the Renaissance and met Leonardo da Vinci in person, go back to the humdrum of high school?

Charley Morton is still trying to figure that out, as she puts her recent unexpected time travel adventure and a narrow escape with her life behind her to focus on this year’s science fair.  She knows that working alongside her science fair partner and sometimes boyfriend Billy, a first prize is in her future. She might even allow her sometimes-bestie Beth to join the project. However, in Charley’s world, nothing is simple, and things are about to turn upside down, again, in a new adventure, Find Me in the Time Before (Book 4/Edge of Yesterday; Woodhall Press; October 2022; Price $18.95) by Robin Stevens Payes.

In Find Me in the Time Before, Charley and Billy’s old friend Kairos appears with an urgent problem – his sister Carolina is missing. In Paris. In the 18^th century. To find her, Charley will have to search the streets—and cemeteries—of Paris. This is a dangerous place for a 21^st-century girl to get lost in, alone and armed only with her smartphone. But Charley has another motive for daring the leap: she’s desperate to track down one of her science heroes, the Marquise Émilie du Châtelet. Among other Earth-shaking achievements, the Marquise formulated the scientific precursor to what would become, two centuries later, Einstein’s famous E=mc². Charley’s dying to find out how this “daring woman of the Enlightenment ” dueled, gambled and advanced science and mathematics in a world where education was reserved for noblemen and kings. Like many hidden figures through the ages, Émilie’s contributions were neglected, overlooked or lost to the history recorded by men.

With time travel on her mind, Charley will need to enlist Beth’s fashion talents and Billy’s  engineering upgrades to smooth out what she knows to be a head-spinning ride through spacetime. Add Charley’s IT, physics, forensic and social innovations to the mix, and she’s on track to win the national Science Fair and collect a cash prize to boot. Just another average school year!

Author Robin Stevens Payes, after years of working as a science and education writer and coach, has a penchant for telling stories that focus on blending history, science, and fiction. Her Edge of Yesterday series is intended to entertain young adult readers and spark an interest in STEM/STEAM careers, especially for girls. Charley and Billy indulge their STEM curiosity and creativity to chase down their dreams. In the same spirit, Robin intends for her books to encourage readers to both dream and create. For teens, Find Me in the Time Before has it all—from romance to fashion, adventure to revolution, and gadgets to ghosts. In an era where kids are emerging into a world changed by a pandemic, the prospect of time travel in the Edge of Yesterday series is a leap into greater imagination and possibility.

About the Author

Robin Stevens Payes is the author of four novels for middle grade to Y/A readers. She offers workshops on storytelling and is in the process of launching a company that focuses on relationship solutions for mothers and their teen daughters. She was founding editor-in-chief of LearnNow, an online publication on the science of learning, and has written for The American Leader, Discovery Education, the National Girls Collaborative Project, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She lives around the DC beltway in Maryland.

FIND ME IN THE TIME BEFORE
Book 4 in the Edge of Yesterday Series
By Robin Payes
Publisher: Woodhall Press
Publication Date: October 4, 2022
ISBN:
Original Trade Paperback
Price: $18.95
Page count: 436 pages

“Moody, memorable tales powered by human struggle, tenacity, and an unshakable sense of survival.” – Kirkus Reviews

In his latest collection of short stories, J. Reeder Archuleta offers stunning, earnest, and sometimes heartbreaking glimpses into the lives of everyday people in the American Southwest. The Best Good Horse (Izzard Ink Publishing, July 26^th 2022, Original Trade Paperback, ISBN 9781642280777, $19.95) captures the struggle of what it means to live as unapologetically as possible, one day at a time, from the perspective of the people who are commonly overlooked. Readers of Archuleta’s previous works may recognize a few of the names and faces, but there is no need for familiarity. Each story extends an invitation to briefly join them, sit down, and listen. They never overstay their welcome, often leaving the reader with a sense of contemplative melancholy or bittersweet amusement.

In the title story, an old cowboy befriends the daughter of a ranch cook and becomes her protector as she grows up. In the opening tale, “A Prayer to St. Michael”, a World War II spy tries to adjust to living with human depravity in a small Texas Town. “Imperfections” is an empowering and brutally honest story of an indigenous prostitute who rises above her abusive situation in a show of bravery, strength, and cunning. No two stories are the same, all managing to capture a unique time, place, and emotion. Some provide a sense of sweet innocence and some show how quickly that can be lost. Not every ending is happy, but readers can find solace in the shared human experience each has to offer.

“In addition to the character-forward approach to storytelling evident in each entry, the tones and moods work together to craft tales that are distinct from one another, despite their similar themes of aging, missed opportunities, and the rediscovery of inner strength… Throughout, the stories of The Best Good Horse brim with intense feelings, but are also rooted in the fact that reality can be both unpleasant and peaceful.” – Foreword Review

About the Author

Reeder Archuleta was raised in Texas close to the Mexican Border, and five generations of his family are in their final resting place there. His great-grandfather is buried in Concordia Cemetery in El Paso, Texas, withing spitting distance of the grave of John Wesley Hardin. Archuleta has authored three books: Rio Sonora: A Story of the Arizona Rangers, The El Paso Red Flame Gas Station and Other Stories, and his latest work The Best Good Horse.

The Best Good Horse and Other Short Stories
By J. Reeder Archuleta
Izzard Ink Publishing
Publication date: July 27^th, 2022
Original Trade Paperback / Hardcover / eBook
ISBN (Paperback): 9781642280777
Price (Paperback): $19.95

“The sign was supposed to say, ‘Camp Hillside, a place for girls and young women adventurers,’ but I had noticed that some of the letters were faded. Like the ‘w’ in ‘women.’ That was definitely a bad omen.”

Welcome to Camp Hillside, a sleepaway camp with loads of fun activities from swimming to candle making to archery! It’s also where Laura “Noodle” Newman will be spending the next four weeks of her summer. Heading to camp for the first time with high hopes and eager anticipation, Noodle quickly finds that life away from home is trickier than she’d expected. Noodle is thrust into a world with entertaining and eclectic new bunkmates, and experiences that are completely opposite from her quiet existence back at her home in Great Falls.

The drama escalates when the campers find out that Hurricane Hilda is headed their way and Camp Hillside is forced to hunker down. The routine Noodle was finally starting to get comfortable with is suddenly turned on its head. The storm’s arrival gives Noodle a new-found strength that steers her past missing home and on to forging some unexpected bonds. Join Noodle and her newfound friends in Hurricamp! (Brown Books, June 2022, ISBN: 978-1-61254-554-7, Trade Paperback) as they navigate the perils of summer camp— Can the Sandpipers make it through a stormy encounter with an angry skunk? Will they ever succeed in out-pranking their neighboring cabin? How will they deal with the unexpected departure of their beloved counselor?

“‘I’m really glad I met you guys.’ The words came out of my mouth before I could take them back. Oh well, I thought. Too late now. ‘I wouldn’t want to go through a hurricane with anyone else.’

‘Yeah,’ Charlie piped up. ‘Same here.’

Aries squeezed my hand. ‘Me too.’

‘Could you imagine what camp would’ve been like without Hurricane Hilda?’ Buffy said. ‘So boooriiiinnnggg!’”

Hurricamp! is a charming and innocent throwback to childhood— Steph Katzovi perfectly captures the feeling of being away from home for the first time, and the power that comes from finding courage you didn’t know you had. The times where Noodle embarrasses herself seem like the direst of events, while the joys she experiences also shine through brightly. Told in Noodle’s witty, earnest and distinctive voice, Hurricamp! is as quirky as Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books and emulates Judy Blume’s relatable dialogue. Parents and children alike will identify with Noodle’s vulnerabilities and the humorous lessons she learns on her adventures at Camp Hillside.

Hurricamp!
By Steph Katzovi
Brown Books
ISBN: 978-1-61254-554-7
Publication Date: May 24, 2022
Original Trade Paperback
Price: $9.99
Pages: 200