Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a YA horror playing with tropes, a middle grade mystery featuring a helpful fowl companion, a YA mystery spinoff, and more.
The Blonde Dies First by Joelle Wellington. Simon & Schuster, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-2245-6. When Black 17-year-old Devon and her friends mess around with a Ouija board, a “knockoff Slenderman” demon appears, dropping the group into a real-life slasher film.
Fowl Play by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb. HarperCollins/Tegen, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-327403-7. Chloe uses the skills she learned from her Grammy’s true crime podcasts and a beloved bird passed down to her to initiate a murder investigation into her uncle’s death. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
The Grandest Game by Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Little, Brown, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-316-48101-4. Sequestered contestants vie for millions in this fiendishly clever thriller, the first in a spinoff series from Barnes’s Inheritance Games saga.
Hey! Look at You!: A Captivating Mirror Book by Sandra Boynton. Boynton Bookworks, $9.99, ISBN 978-1-665-95316-0. In this interactive picture book featuring animal-shaped mirrors throughout, readers can imitate their favorite animals.
The Mirror of Beasts by Alexandra Bracken. Knopf, $20.99; ISBN 978-0-593-48169-1. In the sequel to Silver in the Bone, Tamsin and her crew are in pursuit of a magical mirror that will force Tamsin to face her past.
The Night Librarian by Christopher Lincoln. Dial, $23.99; ISBN 978-0-5936-1765-6; $13.99 paper ISBN 978-0-593-61766-3. Twins Page and Reed Turner inadvertently trigger a literary upheaval, unleashing iconic characters into the corridors of the New York Public Library. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
Such Charming Liars by Karen M. McManus. Delacorte, $20.99; ISBN 978-0-593-48505-7. Former stepsiblings Kat and Liam are reunited when their parents both arrive at a party to pull of separate heists, and must work together when a murder takes place.
A Terrible Place for a Nest by Sara Levine, illus. by Erika Meza. Roaring Brook, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-250-86122-1. After a sudden move, Juno discovers a nest full of dove eggs at his new home and begins to care for them.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of July, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.