Hitting bookshelves next week include a rediscovered middle grade book in translation about a journalist under threat of losing his job for filing too many stories about cats, the latest in a sports series about a young football player and his family drama off the field, and a photographic picture book about a boy and his puppy.

We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson. Simon Pulse, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-4963-2. The book, which earned a starred review from PW, follows 16-year-old Henry Denton, whose life is in tatters – he was abandoned by his father; his boyfriend, Jesse, hanged himself; and he is regularly abducted by aliens who have put Earth’s very fate in his hands.

Home Team: The Extra Yard by Mike Lupica. Simon & Schuster, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-1000-7. A gifted baseball player, Teddy’s real love is football, but the book follows his estranged father returning, and forces Teddy to make his own decisions about life and sports.

Stolen Chapters by James Riley. S&S/Aladdin, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-0922-3. The latest volume of the Story Thieves series follows friends Owen, Kiel, and Bethany as they confront new mysteries.

The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof by Annie M.G. Schmidt, trans. from the Dutch by David Colmer. Delacorte, $14.99; ISBN 978-0-553-53500-6. In this story from the Hans Christian Andersen Medalist, originally published in the Netherlands in 1970, a timid, feline-obsessed reporter is about to lose his job for filing stories on cats instead of more newsworthy fare.

Bathtime with Theo and Beau by Jessica Shyba. Feiwel and Friends, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-250-05907-9. The boy and his puppy, popularized on a photo blog, are back for a new picture book about the pair’s shared bathtime.

For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of January, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.