Children’s bookshelf: New titles by Matt de la Peña, Tonya Bolden, Arvin Ahmadi and Melissa Albert

Sometimes love is in the simplest and most poignant of details. In “Love” (Putnam, $17.99, ages 3-7) Matt de la Peña and Loren Long brilliantly bring those details to life in a series of moments captured as if in a photo album. Readers won’t find pink hearts or pastel candies here; this quiet read is a sweet companion to more exuberant and romantic takes on love. Long’s poetic, richly colored illustrations manage to be personal and universal at the same time. His skies are particularly beautiful — big and full of light or stars. Children are seen experiencing the richness of love through the sights, sounds and smells of life itself. De la Peña points out the ambient experience of love in hearing music or playing in hydrants on city streets, sharing reassuring moments with a grandparent, grieving when love seems to be lost or astray, and finally, settling into the surety of being surrounded by love, with all its risks and rewards, even when about to fly from the nest.

— KATHIE MEIZNER

The first chapter of “Facing Frederick: The Life of Frederick Douglass” (Abrams Books for Young Readers, $19.99, ages 10-14) opens with the earliest known photograph of the American icon. In this richly detailed and impeccably designed biography, author Tonya Bolden shows how Douglass’ unshakable sense of purpose pushed him to become not only a driving force in the anti-slavery movement but also the 19th century’s most photographed American. Bolden follows Douglass as he finds his voice as a speaker, writer and newspaper publisher. The book also shows how Douglass’ work was far from finished when Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. As Douglass said in May 1865, “Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot.” In presenting Douglass from many angles, Bolden provides plenty of close-up views of Douglass’ family life, travels in Europe, advocacy of women’s rights, and lifelong intellectual rigor. Many young readers will be impressed and inspired by the strength of purpose that Douglass carried till the day he died at his Washington home, readying himself to make another speech at the age of 77. — ABBY MCGANNEY NOLAN

The pressure is building for rising senior Saaket “Scott” Ferdowsi in “Down and Across” (Viking, $17.99, age 12 and up), a lively first novel by Arvin Ahmadi. Scott’s successful immigrant father wants him to plan college around a “safe-enough” field like engineering or medicine, but the lackadaisical 16-year-old fears disappointing his dad with yet another failure. So when his parents set off for a monthlong trip to Iran, Scott ditches his “virtuous science-y” summer internship in Philadelphia for a bus ticket to Washington, D.C. He hopes to learn more about “grit” — that quality of tenacity that has always eluded him — from a foremost expert, who teaches at Georgetown. Scott is soon swept up in the schemes of college student Fiora, a quirky cruciverbalist (aka a crossword puzzle ace) bent on helping him find adventure. Although the book’s female characters sometime seem less developed than their male counterparts, this humorous, deeply human coming-of-age story will connect with teens who, like Scott, may wonder if a well-lived life is “less about grit and more about the journey.” — MARY QUATTLEBAUM

“The Hazel Wood” (Flatiron, age 13 and up), Melissa Albert’s first novel, opens with what seems to be a happy turn of events for 17-year-old Alice. Her fiercely protective mother, Ella, marries Harold, and mother and daughter trade in their itinerant, bad-luck lives for a “vacuum of wealth” in Manhattan. Alice settles into a posh private school and befriends fellow misfit Ellery, one of the few people who knows about the rare book of fairy tales written decades ago by Alice’s grandmother. Soon, though, oddly familiar strangers begin to appear, including the young man who tried to kidnap Alice years ago. This time he flees when Alice spots him, leaving behind three items: a feather, a comb and a bone. Are they talisman, lure or warning? When Ella suddenly disappears, Alice and Ellery plunge after her, clutching at clues. Their search leads to upstate New York and the hidden estate of the grandmother Alice never knew. Desperate to find her mother, Alice enters a frightening realm where the sun hovers “like a pinned insect” and she must confront her own dark origins. Albert occasionally entwines the haunting fairy tales of the grandmother’s book through this mesmerizing narrative, creating a YA fantasy as lush and twisty as ivy. — MARY QUATTLEBAUM