Summer vacation is still going strong, but releases for young readers continue to impress. Check out our picks of notable titles out this month, including a picture book about an unconventional young gardener, a middle grade fantasy set at a notable library, a speculative YA novel about grief, and more.
Picture Books and Early Readers
Bijan Always Wins
Adib Khorram, illus. by Michelle Tran. Dial, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-32530-8. Ages 4–8. Young Bijan enjoys winning and learns how to appreciate the value of friendship over victory. See Khorram’s essay for PW on the dark side of winning and the early seeds of toxic masculinity.
Chris Butterworth, illus. by Olivia Lomenech Gill. Candlewick, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5362-3542-5. Ages 3–7. This assemblage of corvid portraits form a stately, intelligent survey of crow types. The book received a starred review from PW.
Wade Hudson, illus. by Don Tate. Penguin/Paulsen, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-5936-1574-4. Ages 3–7. Personal and political history intertwines in a warmly affirming tale of two Black siblings witnessing a milestone event—their mother voting for the first time in 1969 Louisiana. See our In Conversation between Hudson and Tate.
Paola Santos, illus. by Juliana Perdomo. Holiday House/Porter, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-8234-5388-7. Ages 4–8. A grandchild resists helping to harvest mangoes at the start of a layered picture book that melds concepts of counting, senses, and values. The book received a starred review from PW.
I Am La Chiva! The Colorful Bus of the Andes
Karol Hernández, illus. by Lorena Alvarez Gómez. Dial, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-5935-2920-1. Ages 2–5. In their debut, Hernández foregrounds La Chiva, “a colorful rustic bus used as public transportation in rural areas of Colombia.” The book received a starred review from PW.
Beth Ferry, illus. by Claire Keane. Simon & Schuster, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-6659-2173-2. Ages 4–8. Young Prunella is a gifted gardener of unlikely botanical choices, and finds a like-minded community to appreciate her work. The book received a starred review from PW.
Cate Berry, illus. by Margherita Grasso. Page Street, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-64567-867-0. Ages 4–8. Classroom pet Scorch hopes to prove to her class that she can be more ferocious than cute. The book received a starred review from PW.
Middle Grade
Benji Zeb Is a Ravenous Werewolf
Deke Moulton. Tundra, $17.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-7748-8052-4. Ages 10–14. On the cusp of making his bar mitzvah, Benji is struggling to keep many secrets, including his were wolfONE WORD, RIGHT? identity and crush on a former friend. The book received a starred review from PW.
Erin Entrada Kelly. Greenwillow, $18.99 (160p) ISBN 978-0-06333-716-9. Ages 8–12. After curious eight-year-old Felix transforms into a dog just like his pet Puppins, the duo enjoy a day of canine activities. The book received a starred review from PW.
Kristin O’Donnell Tubb. HarperCollins/Tegen, $18.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-06-327403-7. Ages 8–12. Chloe Alvarez is given her late uncle’s pet parrot, who reveals to her that his death was not an accident, in this middle grade mystery. The book received a starred review from PW.
Melba Escobar, trans. from Spanish by Sara Lissa Paulson, illus. by Elizabeth Builes. Enchanted Lion, $16.95 (124p) ISBN 978-1-59270-409-5. Ages 8–12. Ten-year-old Pedro encounters a man on the beach who shows him how to find joy in the ocean and within himself. The book received a starred review from PW.
Christopher Lincoln. Dial, $23.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-5936-1765-6; $13.99 paper ISBN 978-0-593-61766-3. Ages 8–12. Twins Page and Reed accidentally unleash iconic characters from books into the New York Public Library’s corridors and must work with the night librarian to return them to their pages. The book received a starred review from PW.
Young Adult
Rosena Fung. Annick, $24.99 (312p) ISBN 978-1-77321-833-5; $17.99 paper ISBN 978-1-77321-834-2. Ages 12 and up. Fung traces the lives of three generations of women within her family in this tale of generational strife, rebellion, and self-acceptance. The book received a starred review from PW.
Jennifer Lynn Barnes. Little, Brown, $19.99 (384p) ISBN 978-0-316-48101-4. Sequestered contestants vie for millions in this thriller, the first in a spinoff series from Barnes’s Inheritance Games saga. See our recent interview with the author. Ages 12 and up.
The Great Cool Ranch Dorito in the Sky
Josh Galarza. Holt, $19.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-90771-4. Ages 14 and up. When Brett’s food journal goes viral on school socials, a new friend helps him navigate his grief and disordered eating. The book received a starred review from PW.
Jennifer Yu. Amulet, $19.99 (344p) ISBN 978-1-419767-27-2. Ages 14 and up. Deceased high school seniors Kenny and Caroline find themselves in pseudo-purgatory, with a television that shows them what’s happening to their loved ones back in the land of the living. The book received a starred review from PW.
Andi Porretta. Atheneum, $24.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-6659-0703-3; $14.99 paper ISBN 978-1-6659-0702-6. Ages 14 and up. Freshly graduated future-apprehensive Cassie grapples with the impending separation of her friend group during their final summer together. The book received a starred review from PW.
Freya Finch. Disney/de la Cruz, $18.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-368-10099-1. Ages 12 and up. Fledgling teen Valkyrie Bryn Martel tries to avert Ragnarök in Finch’s Norse mythology–inspired debut. The book received a starred review from PW.
Karen M. McManus. Delacorte, $20.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-593-48505-7. Ages 14 and up. Former stepsiblings Kat and Quinn reunite at a party where an expensive necklace is the mark for a heist, and must work together when a murder takes place.
Chatham Greenfield. Bloomsbury, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-5476-1390-8. Ages 13 and up. Two disabled former friends—both white and Jewish—reconnect and explore their feelings while stuck in a time loop. The book received a starred review from PW.
Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker. Tor, $20.99 (320p) ISBN 978-1-250-86126-9. Ages 13 and up. Centering protagonists of various body types, genders, and racial and ethnic backgrounds, each story of this horror anthology dismantles racist tropes and casts “the white guy” as the first kill.
