Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles including a picture book countdown to a haunting holiday, a picture book about compromise, a middle grade book following an anthropomorphic lizard, and more.
5 More Sleeps ’til Halloween by Jimmy Fallon, illus. by Rich Deas. Feiwel and Friends, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-250-85779-8. This picture book from the creators of 5 More Sleeps ’til Christmas portrays the anticipation leading up to Halloween with a spooky countdown to the big day.
Bookie and Cookie by Blanca Gómez. Penguin/Rocky Pond, $18.99; 978-0-593-69680-4. Best friends Bookie and Cookie learn to compromise when Bookie offers a change to their afterschool routine.
Chronicles of a Lizard Nobody by Patrick Ness, illus. by Tim Miller. Walker US, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-3593-7. In this absurd anthropomorphic take on middle school, a young monitor lizard finds things spiraling out of control when he accidentally antagonizes the school bully.
Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White. Peachtree, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-68263-612-1. Autistic transgender 16-year-old Miles is in the middle of a feud between his family and local government and begins to be followed by a strangely familiar figure wearing a red bandana. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
Cookie Time by Jessie Sima. Simon & Schuster, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-3674-3. Impatient for their cookies to finish baking, Kat and Ari build a time machine in hopes of arriving when the cookies are done, but time travel proves to be far from an exact science.
Crowning Glory: A Celebration of Black Hair by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. by Ekua Holmes. Candlewick, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-763-69794-5. This visually stunning celebration of African hair and heritage is an ode dedicated to the CROWN Act movement. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
The Daggers of Ire by J.C. Cervantes. HarperCollins, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06331-207-4. Twelve-year-old Esmerelda, secretly a witch of Chaos, searches for a spell to help her grieving father, and when all the other brujxes of the city disappear, must help to find them.
Good Night Thoughts by Max Greenfield, illus. by James Serafino (Putnam, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-69789-4). A child learns to soothe his running nighttime thoughts in order to get a good night’s rest.
The Greatest by Veera Hiranandani, illus. by Vesper Stamper. Random House Studio, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-64556-7. An elderly grandfather and his three grandchildren spend quality time together, and during Passover the children learn of their grandfather’s leadership. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Guava and Grudges by Alexis Castellanos. Bloomsbury, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-5476-1371-7. Cuban American Ana Maria Ybarra meets fellow foodie and amateur photographer Miguel Fuentes only to discover that Miguel is a part of the Morales family, owners of a rival bakery.
Hiro, Winter, and Marshmallows by Marine Schneider, trans. from the French by Vineet Lal. Eerdmans, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-8028-5632-6. A wintry bonfire establishes camaraderie between two unlikely friends, curious brown bear Hiro and Émile, a human boy. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma. Little, Brown, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-316-58144-8. Desperate for any information she can find about her missing sister, Kidan, the final descendent of an ancient manor for draniacs and humans, moves into the house with her prime suspect, draniac Susenyos. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
Leo’s First Vote! by Christina Soontornvat, illus. by Isabel Roxas. Knopf, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-5936-4426-3. A child learns the importance of each individual voter in this lively tale about a boy eager accompany his dad, a new U.S. citizen, to vote for president. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
The Loss of the Burying Ground by J. Anderson Coats. Candlewick, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-3238-7. Cora, daughter of a Duran journalist, and Vivienne, lady’s maid to an Ariminthian princess, sworn enemies, are the only survivors of a shipwreck, but discover that much of what they’ve been told about the war and their enemies is false.
Luminous Beings by David Arnold, illus. by Jose Pimienta. Viking, $24.99; ISBN 978-0-593-62090-8; $17.99 paper ISBN 978-0-593-62091-5. In this graphic novel, best friends Ty and Burger work together to survive an apocalypse of zombie squirrels and when they learn an old friend may be alive somewhere, go in search of him.
The Monstrous Kind by Lydia Gregovic. Delacorte, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-5935-7237-5. Now that she and her older sister Essie have been orphaned, Merrick must jockey for a higher status within England’s elite if she hopes to keep Norland House—and herself—afloat.
No More Señora Mimí by Meg Medina, illus. by Brittany Cicchese. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-1944-9. When Ana’s abuela moves in with her, she realizes that her developing friendship with her babysitter and neighbor, señora Mimí, may change. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
One Last Chance to Live by Francisco X. Stork. Scholastic Press, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-3390-1023-6. Nico, a grieving teen from the Bronx, turns a class journal into a lifeline.
Our Beautiful Darkness by Ondjaki, trans. from the Portuguese by Lyn Miller-Lachmann, illus. by António Jorge Gonçalves. Unruly, $16.95; ISBN 978-1-59270-410-1. Two teenage paramours navigate a metropolitan blackout’s full duration. The graphic novel received a starred review from PW.
Out of My Dreams by Sharon M. Draper. Atheneum/Dlouhy, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-665-94954-5. In the third installment of the Out of My Mind series, Melody is nominated to be a U.S. spokesperson for children with different abilities, and flies to England to let her voice be heard.
The Princess in Black and the Kitty Catastrophe by Shannon Hale and Dean Hale, illus. by LeUyen Pham. Candlewick, $14.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-3409-1. The 11th book in the Princess in Black series follows Duchess Wigtower as she balances her hero life with a mischievous kitten.
The Pumpkin Princess and the Forever Night by Steven Banbury. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-57298-9; $8.99 paper ISBN 978-0-316-57299-6. When tween Eve encounters the mythical Pumpkin King and shows no fear, he’s so impressed he adopts her and takes her home to the hidden Hallowell Valley, a refuge for all manner of spirits and monsters, where she is to be crowned the Pumpkin Princess. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
Puppet by David Almond, illus. by Lizzy Stewart. Candlewick, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-3917-1. Elderly puppet master Silvester uses scraps from his remaining inventory to construct one last figure, Puppet. When Puppet comes to life, Silvester brings Puppet outside to enjoy a day at the park.
Roar for Reading by Beth Ferry, illus. by Andrew Joyner. Simon & Schuster, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-66594-055-9. Using “roar” as both anthem and acronym (“Recognize. Organize. Act. Respect.”), Ferry gives librarianship a creaturely prehistory in this picture book with an anti-censorship message.
A Second Chance on Earth by Juan Vidal. Holiday House, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-823-45711-3. Sixteen-year-old Marcos heads to Colombia to grieve his father and befriends taxi driver Camilo, but their friendship takes a turn when Marcos learns a dangerous secret about Camilo that could endanger them both. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
The Sherlock Society by James Ponti. Aladdin, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-3253-0. Alex Sherlock and his friends found the Sherlock Society detective agency and their first case surrounds Al Capone’s legendary lost fortune buried somewhere in south Florida. The middle grade book, which kicks off a new series, received a starred review from PW.
Stealing Little Moon: The Legacy of American Indian Residential Schools by Dan SaSuWeh Jones. Scholastic Focus, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-33-888947-5. Via first-person prose, Jones, the grandson of Little Moon, one of several Native youth taken from his family and to the Chilocco Indian Agricultural School in Oklahoma, chronicles the history of Chilocco from its opening in 1884 to its closure in 1980. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
Still Life by Alex London, illus. by Paul O. Zelinsky. Greenwillow, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-322955-6. A human painter goes up against a crew of fairy tale characters who get up to no good in this meta work.
Songlight by Moira Buffini. HarperCollins, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-335821-8. When 18-year-old Elsa makes chance contact through songlight with Kaira, their burgeoning power attracts the attention of human supremacist faction leaders, who seek to escalate the war using forbidden technology and manipulative songlight abilities. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
When Haru Was Here by Dustin Thao (Wednesday, $20; ISBN 978-1-250-76206-1). Vietnamese American Eric Ly encountered Haru during a trip to Japan, but lost contact when he returned to Chicago. When Haru appears at his local coffeeshop, Eric takes his second chance at love as he grieves the loss of his best friend.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of September. check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
