Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a YA novel about a rogue witch, a picture book about dino-zombies, a story celebrating street art, a classroom tale about helping others, and more.

Mark of the Wicked by Georgia Bowers. Swoon Reads, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-77389-0. Though the human names etched into Matilda Hollowell’s face burn night and day to remind her of the cruel spells she has inflicted, she feels no compunction about using her magic against her Gravewick Academy classmates in this YA debut.

Dino-Zombies! by Rick Chrustowski. Penguin Workshop, $9.99; ISBN 978-0-593-22475-5. Forget brains: dino-zombies need sugar to survive, and Halloween night is the perfect time to fuel up in this playful picture book.

Boogie Boogie, Y'All by C.G. Esperanza. HarperCollins/Tegen, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-297622-2. Esperanza establishes a groovy rhythm in this celebration of art and music, set in the Bronx. Snappy rhymes flow with repetition, introducing two children who notice the beauty of public art—dance, graffiti, and music—when no one else does.

I Can Help by Reem Faruqi, illus. by Mikela Prevost. Eerdmans, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-8028-5504-6. This painfully honest look at the way unkindness can poison a classroom atmosphere is narrated by Zahra, a child who helps classmate Kyle, who “isn’t great at handwriting or cutting or gluing either,” facing criticism from other students.

The First Blade of Sweetgrass by Suzanne Greenlaw and Gabriel Frey, illus. by Nancy Baker. Tilbury House, $18.95; ISBN 978-0-88448-760-9. Emphasizing the importance of conservation and tradition in Native culture, married authors Greenlaw (who is Maliseet) and Frey (who is Passamaquoddy) craft a sweet story that centers a Wabanaki grandmother and granddaughter. The book earned a starred review from PW.

The Other Side of Luck by Ginger Johnson. Bloomsbury, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-68119-655-8. Johnson’s (The Splintered Light) lyrical novel, set long ago in the fictional city of Antiquitilla, centers two motherless friends with extraordinary senses who were born on the same day.

Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko. HarperCollins/Tegen, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-304460-9. In this middle grade novel, when Zee encounters a ghost on a school library trip, mean girl Nellie begins calling her “Ghost Girl,” a name that becomes even more apropos when Zee realizes that she can see and talk to specters, just like her late mother could.

Rainbow in the Dark by Sean McGinty. Clarion, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-358-38037-5. Relayed chiefly through a second-person perspective, this dark yet hopeful tale balances humor, existentialism, and protagonist Rainbow’s mental health in a video game-esque world. The book earned a starred review from PW.

The Fastest Girl on Earth!: Meet Kitty O'Neil, Daredevil Driver! by Dean Robbins, illus. by Elizabeth Baddeley. Knopf, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-593-12571-7. Bursting with clouds of dust and rocket flames, realistic mixed-media spreads by Baddely (Leave It to Abigail!) deliver energy to this picture biography of sportswoman Kitty O’Neil (1946–2018).

In the Wild Light by Jeff Zentner. Crown, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5247-2024-7. After discovering a bacteria-eating mold in a local cave, two high school sophomores are offered full scholarships to a prestigious academy in Zentner’s (Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee) tender novel of love and loss, which earned a starred review from PW.

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