Local Reads: 2017 Preview 

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Children's book authors abound in the Green Mountain State. What can we expect from local writers this year? Below, you'll find a preview of titles hitting bookstores and library shelves in 2017. Special thanks to the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick and the Flying Pig Bookstore in Shelburne for letting us in on their most anticipated reads.

This month, South Burlington's Jason Chin releases Grand Canyon, a tale of a father and daughter exploring the natural wonder. Weaving the canyon's history into the storyline, this book bursts with info that will keep kids occupied for hours — including an intricate map. Save the date for Chin's launch party at the Flying Pig Bookstore on Saturday, February 25, at 11 a.m.

Leda Schubert, of Plainfield, teams up with illustrator Raúl Colón for Listen: How Pete Seeger Got America Singing, a picture book about the American folk hero who inspired people across the nation to become politically active. It's slated for a June release.

Kate Messner of nearby Plattsburgh, N.Y., has been busy. She has four new titles coming out in 2017 including Over and Under the Pond in March, a companion to her other nature-centered picture books. Illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal, Messner's latest delves into the complex world of a mountain pond. In June, look for Fergus and Zeke, a new early-reader series illustrated by Heather Ross, featuring a classroom mouse and his streetwise buddy.

Space lovers will be over the moon for Middlesex resident Tod Olson's Lost in Outer Space: The Incredible Journey of Apollo 13, released in January. The nonfiction narrative — book two in Olson's Lost series — tells about a rocket damaged 200,000 miles from Earth and includes crew photographs and diagrams of the spacecraft.

Released last month, Middlebury graduate Katherine Arden's debut young-adult novel, The Bear and the Nightingale, whisks readers away to medieval Russia in a mixture of fairy tale and fantasy. The book features a heroine who must draw on her hidden talents to save her family.

National Book Award winner and East Calais resident M.T. Anderson will release the young-adult novel Landscape With Invisible Hand in September. A satire about colonization on the future planet Earth, the story follows aspiring artist, Adam, and his girlfriend, Chloe, as they struggle for survival in a bizarre world.