Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles including a book about brothers, a picture book about protest, a royal romp, a celebration of non-traditional families, and many more.
The Blue Wings by Jef Aerts, trans. from the Dutch by Laura Watkinson, illus. by Martijn van der Linden. Levine Querido, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-64614-008-4. Aerts’s offbeat middle grade novel depicts the bond between 11-year-old Josh and 16-year-old Jadran, brothers who are so close they fall asleep matching the rhythm of their breaths.
Love Is Powerful by Heather Dean Brewer, illus. by LeUyen Pham. Candlewick, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-0199-4. In a picture book inspired by a young friend of the author who participated in the January 2017 New York City Women’s March, Brewer presents an endearing portrait of a Black mother and daughter who take part in a citywide protest.
Get Up, Elizabeth! by Shirin Yim Bridges, illus. by Alea Marley. Cameron Kids, $16.95; ISBN 978-1-944-90394-7. The Elizabeth of the title is none other than a very young Queen Elizabeth I (still technically a princess in these pages), and any reader who’s been thrust into a stifling party outfit will have built-in empathy as little Bess is roused from her comfy four-poster bed and prepped for a big court appearance.
My Family, Your Family! by Kathryn Cole, illus. by Cornelia Li. Second Story, $10.95; ISBN 978-1-77260-133-6. This board book employs a rhythmic structure to illustrate—and celebrate—a fluid, inclusive model of family, centering families whose parental roles are unshared, shared over distance, multigenerational, or otherwise “untraditional.”
One Time by Sharon Creech. HarperCollins/Cotler, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-257074-1. In short, vignette-like chapters, Newbery Medalist Creech expertly develops a relatable, amusingly foibled cast—including Gina’s inquisitive schoolmates and demanding Italian relatives—and classroom verve conveyed via a scriptlike immediacy.
The Language of Ghosts by Heather Fawcett. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-285454-4. Siblings chase after the inheritance due them atop a moving island in this fantastical middle grade novel. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Fern and Otto: A Story About Two Best Friends by Stephanie Graegin. Random House/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-593-12130-6. Fern, a large brown bear, draws a quiet story about having lunch and a nap, but Otto, a small, adventure-loving tabby, finds it wanting, so the two set off into the forest in search of story fodder.
Digging for Words: José Alberto Gutiérrez and the Library He Built by Angela Burke Kunkel, illus. by Paola Escobar. Random House/Schwartz & Wade, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-984892-63-8. Spotlighting José Alberto Gutiérrez, who founded the first library in his Bogotá barrio by rescuing books from the trash, this moving tale details the power and pleasure of books.
Lupe Wong Won’t Dance by Donna Barba Higuera. Levine Querido, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-64614-003-9. Higuera updates an age-old American PE tradition with thoroughly modern sensibilities in this earnest, comedic novel, which follows outspoken half-Chinese, half-Mexican seventh-grader Guadalupe “Lupe” Wong and her crusade to cancel square dancing. The middle grade novel earned a starred review from PW.
The Invisible Boy by Alyssa Hollingsworth, illus. by Deborah Lee. Roaring Brook, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-250-155726. Aspiring investigative reporter Nadia Quick, 12, is on the hunt for a scoop. The only child’s love of Superman, especially “ace reporter” Lois Lane, inspires her to cast neighborhood kids in comics roles in this middle grade novel.
Bearmouth by Liz Hyder. Norton Young Readers, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-324-01586-4. “Inspired by the real-life experiences of miners in Victorian times,” debut author Hyder’s ambitious coal mining thriller stars narrator Newt, a young person who questions the deplorable conditions in the Bearmouth mine.
The Other Side of the Sky by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner. HarperTeen, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-289333-8. Coauthors Kaufman and Spooner (the Unearthed duology) reunite for this propulsive, tender-hearted YA duology opener, which juxtaposes the fallibility of religion with the power of faith.
Cloud Hopper by Beth Kephart, illus. by William Sulit. Penelope, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-73422-590-7. Kephart (The Great Upending) creates a quirky group with a capacity for friendship that amuses and endears, and provides a nuanced look at immigration and found family in this middle grade novel.
These Vengeful Hearts by Katherine Laurin. Inkyard, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-335-14587-1. For years, a secret student cabal has ruled Heller High School using a system of owed favors to rig homecoming elections, change exam results, expose dalliances, and more. Certain that they paralyzed her older sister from the waist down, the protagonist of this YA thriller has positioned herself to enter the society with the goal of destroying the group from within.
The Haunted Lake by P.J. Lynch. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-0013-3. With atmospheric spreads and suitably eerie prose, Lynch (Patrick and the President) spins a yarn about a drowned village in this picture book.
Just a Story by Jeff Mack. Holiday House/Porter, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-8234-4663-6. Extolling literature’s transportive properties, this picture book follows a child who discovers a magical purple tome at the library that comes alive.
Evelyn del Rey Is Moving Away by Meg Medina, illus. by Sonia Sánchez. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-0704-0. Friends Daniela and Evelyn play and prepare for their separation while movers pack Evelyn’s family’s belongings. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Revver the Speedway Squirrel by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illus. by Alex Willan. Bloomsbury, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-5476-0361-9. The author of Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and its offshoots makes her middle grade debut in this series launch introducing a squirrel mesmerized by the zooming vehicles populating the racetrack below his family nest.
The Dare Sisters by Jess Rinker. Imprint, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-250-21338-9. With a clear love for the area and its rich history, Rinker’s debut middle grade adventure draws readers into the lore of Ocracoke Island, N.C., and the lives of three sisters searching for Blackbeard’s lost treasure.
Nobody Knows but You Anica Mrose Rissi. Quill Tree, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-0626-8531-5. Rissi (Always Forever Maybe) intersperses news reports, eyewitness testimony, personal letters and texts, and court transcripts to recount the eight weeks that led to a brutal murder at Camp Cavanick in this YA suspense novel.
The Mystery of the Masked Medalist (Kudo Kids #1) by Maia and Alex Shibutani with Michelle Schusterman, illus. by Yaoyao Ma Van As. Razorbill, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-593-11373-8. This swiftly paced caper by the Shibutanis, siblings who have won multiple Olympic and world medals for ice dancing, launches a mystery series starring Mika and Andy Kudo, Japanese American siblings from Los Angeles.
Meme by Aaron Starmer. Dutton, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-7352-3192-4. Starmer (Spontaneous) crafts a neo-noir-flavored revenge thriller that stabs at the heart of 21st-century isolation, in which three teens band together against a bully.
The House by the Lake: The True Story of a House, Its History, and the Four Families Who Made It Home by Thomas Harding, illus. by Britta Teckentrup. Candlewick Studio, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-1274-7. Harding adapts his adult memoir of the same name for younger readers, tracing the shadow of war as it falls across a one-story cottage and the people who share it.
The Snow Fell Three Graves Deep: Voices from the Donner Party by Allan Wolf. Candlewick, $21.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-6324-7. In this ambitious novel in verse about the infamous 19th-century expedition, Wolf (The Day the Universe Exploded My Head) accomplishes the seemingly impossible: an evocative and sympathetic rendering of a horrific historical event.
My Day with Gong Gong by Sennah Yee, illus. by Elaine Chen. Annick, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-77321-429-0. May, a girl of Chinese descent who only knows English, is nervous about spending the day with her grandfather, who mainly speaks Cantonese. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of September, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
