Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles including a felt picture book, a novel about teen musicians, the story of a family portrait, a book about a clever mouse, and many more.
Teaflet & Roog Make a Mess by Jeanne Birdsall, illus. by Jane Dyer. Knopf, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-593-17911-6. In a “higgledy-piggledy house” in Trelfdom, siblings Teaflet and Roog, who are “happy together until something goes wrong,” prepare for two events at cross purposes in this early chapter book illustrated with photographs of felt sculptures.
Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-301852-5. In Dass’s debut, 17-year-old Reyna is thrown for a loop when her now-famous ex-boyfriend, Aiden, 18, returns to Tobago with his music group and some socialite friends. The YA novel earned a starred review from PW.
The Worm Family Has Its Picture Taken by Jennifer Frank, illus. by David Ezra Stein. Random/Schwartz, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-593-12478-9. When her mother schedules a family photo portrait, Emma the worm is beset with anxiety: what could the camera possibly love about worms? They don’t have big toothy grins like her rodent friend’s family, or dazzling colors like the butterflies.
House Mouse by Michael Hall. Greenwillow, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-286619-6. When a mouse discovers a “warm and welcoming” flame in an asparagus patch one cold day, she makes the first in a series of life-changing decisions in this picture book.
The Museum of Everything by Lynne Rae Perkins. Greenwillow, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-298630-6. In three-dimensional illustrations that resemble the low-tech, at-home dioramas a child might make—photographed rooms constructed of cut paper with props assembled from all kinds of materials—Perkins (Wintercake) brings to life a museum of a child’s favorite things in this picture book.
Baby & Solo by Lisabeth Posthuma. Candlewick, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-1303-4. Nearly a decade after “The Bad Thing” occurred and “What Was Wrong with Me” set in, 17-year-old Joel just wants to be “Normal.” Following years of psychiatric treatment and despite Joel’s mother’s concern, Joel’s therapist suggests that he “try life out” in the form of employment.
Jo Jo Makoons: The Used-To-Be Best Friend by Dawn Quigley, illus. by Tara Audibert. Heartdrum, $15.99; ISBN 978-0-06-301538-8. In this buoyant series starter by Ojibwe author Quigley (Apple in the Middle), Indigenous first grader Josephine Makoons Azure, known as Jo Jo, narrates her experiences of home and school on the fictional Pem-bina Ojibwe Reservation, where she lives with her mother and grandmother. The early middle grade novel earned a starred review from PW.
Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize by Margo Rabb. Quill Tree, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-232240-1. Rabb (Cures for Heartbreak) pens a metropolitan adventure about 16-year-old Lucy Clark, who has spent the past four years in an Austin, Tex., boarding school—ever since her beloved Nana, who raised her, died from a stroke, and Lucy’s neglectful, constantly traveling parents enrolled her.
Carol and the Pickle-Toad by Esmé Shapiro. Tundra, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-7352-6398-7. Carol, a girl with a cloud of hair, round red spectacles, and striped overalls, has a unique hat—a bossy toad. With visual abundance and plenty of silliness, Shapiro’s gentle tale follows Carol as she learns that she can eat what she wishes, make art, and speak courageously, all on her own.
Boy from Buchenwald by Robbie Waisman with Susan McClelland. Bloomsbury, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-5476-0600-9. One of 427 boys transported by a Jewish children’s relief agency to France from the Nazi concentration camp Buchenwald in Weimar, Germany, Polish-Canadian humanitarian Waisman recounts his harrowing youth during and immediately following WWII.
Healer of the Water Monster by Brian Young. Heartdrum, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-299040-2. This middle grade debut by Young (who is Diné/Navajo) follows 11-year-old Nathan Todacheenie, a Diné boy who, seeking to escape a vacation with his father and his father’s girlfriend, ends up in a world of tradition and magic.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of May, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
