Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a picture book about the joy of finding a good book, a middle grade novel about a boy’s friendship with a dog, a countdown picture book, and more.
All the Books by Hayley Rocco, illus. by John Rocco. Little, Brown, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-316-51274-9. “Worst. Day. Ever.” becomes “Best. Day. Ever.” with the discovery of a library in this relatable book spotlighting the institution’s communal aspects.
Answers to Dog by Pete Hautman. Candlewick, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-3488-6. A wily border collie shakes up eighth grader Evan’s quiet life in this finely tuned, heartfelt novel. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
Animal Countdown by Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Holiday House/Porter, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-8234-4867-8. Counting down from 10 to one, Seeger offers readers concept-based puzzles both visual and tactile. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
The Ballerina of Auschwitz by Edith Eva Eger. Atheneum, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-665-95255-2. This young readers adaptation of Eger’s memoir The Choice highlights her experience as a Holocaust survivor.
The Bakery Dragon by Devin Elle Kurtz. Knopf, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-71096-8. Little Ember is taken in by a kindly local baker and learns how to make golden loaves of bread so delicious that the other dragons are willing to pay anything for them. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Boy 2.0 by Tracey Baptiste. Algonquin, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-643-75381-2. Thirteen-year-old Coal is sent to live with a new foster family and when newfound powers make themselves known, Coal questions where they came from.
The Café at the Edge of the Woods by Mikey Please. HarperCollins, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-334549-2. Red-headed human Rene builds a café at the edge of a dark forest and with her first hire Glumfoot learns to navigate life in the restaurant business.
Clydeo Takes a Bite Out of Life by Jennifer Aniston, illus. by Bruno Jacob. HarperCollins, $21.99; ISBN 978-0-0633-7236-8. Little Clydeo wants to be special like the rest of his family and tries his hand at several different hobbies in search of his talent.
Crush by Tegan Quin and Sara Quin, illus. by Tillie Walden. FSG, $14.99 paper ISBN 978-0-374-31304-3; hardcover $22.99 ISBN 978-0-374-31303-6. In the closer to the Tegan and Sara graphic novel duology, the twins enter eighth grade and prepare for a performance that could change their lives.
The Dark Becomes Her by Judy I. Lin. Disney/Riordan, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-368-09909-7. Sixteen-year-old Taiwanese Canadian pianist Ruby has always seen shadows, but when one of the shadows physically hurts her and her sister undergoes a sudden personality change, Ruby investigates where these shadows truly come from.
Deer Run Home by Ann Clare LeZotte. Scholastic Press, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-339-02190-4. Tween Effie, who is Deaf, forms a connection with her ASL interpreter that allows her to open up in new ways.
Dolly Parton’s Billy the Kid Comes Home for Christmas by Dolly Parton, illus. by MacKenzie Haley. Penguin Workshop; $19.99; ISBN 978-0-593-75500-6. In the standalone sequel to Dolly Parton’s Billy the Kid Makes It Big, titular pup Billy is invited with his band to perform on Christmas Day, and must choose between his career and his family.
The Fairy Tale Fan Club: Legendary Letters Collected by C.C. Cecily by Richard Ayoade, illus. by David Roberts. Walker Books US, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5362-2217-3. In a comical introduction, C.C. Cecily, Senior Secretary of the Fairy Tale Fan Club, describes at length fielding “Where are they now?”–type queries from curious humans to fairy tale icons. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
The Girls of Skylark Lane by Robin Benway. HarperCollins, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-331159-6. Twelve-year-old twin sisters Aggie and Jac join a ragtag softball team in their new home of Los Angeles and navigate the team’s interpersonal dynamics. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
The Glass Girl by Kathleen Glasgow. Delacorte, $21.99; ISBN 978-0-525-70808-7. After a night of binge drinking, 15-year-old Bella is sent to attend rehab where she’ll have to face the problems of her home life and the recent loss of her grandmother.
Heir by Sabaa Tahir. Putnam, $21.99; ISBN 978-0-593-61694-9. In this book set 20 years after the events of the Ember in the Ashes series, orphaned Kegari-born Aiz, down-on-her-luck Jaduna tracker Sirsha, and reluctant crown prince of the Martial Empire Quil find their lives intertwined as the world faces danger from both human and supernatural forces. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
The Hotel Balzaar by Kate DiCamillo, illus. by Júlia Sardà. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-536223-31-6. In this follow-up to The Puppets of Spelhorst, while Marta Buchelli’s mother works as a maid in the Hotel Balzaar, Marta befriends a patron who tells her outlandish stories. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
How to Sing a Song by Kwame Alexander and Randy Preston, illus. by Melissa Sweet. Quill Tree, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-306093-7. Readers learn to appreciate the joys of singing in the third book by the team behind How to Read a Book.
Hungry Bones by Louise Hung. Scholastic Press, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-3388-3258-7. Two lonely Chinese American girls, one living and one dead, seek to solve a spectral mystery in Hung’s eerie debut.
The Hunger Games: Illustrated Edition by Suzanne Collins, illus. by Nico Delort. Scholastic Press, $34.99; ISBN 978-1-339-03060-9. Katniss Everdeen volunteers in place of her younger sister to compete in the Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death style game, in this illustrated edition.
In Praise of Mystery by Ada Limón, illus. by Peter Sís. Norton, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-324-05400-9. Poet laureate Limón makes her children’s book debut with a poem that will be etched on Europa Clipper, a spacecraft launching this month that will head toward Jupiter and its moons, illustrated by the Caldecott Honor artist. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Jasmine Is Haunted by Mark Oshiro. Starscape, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-2503-3729-0. Eighth grader Jasmine Garza has been chased by spirits, and with her new friends she investigates what is haunting her and more importantly, how to get it to stop.
Jax Freeman and the Phantom Shriek by Kwame Mbalia. Freedom Fire, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-368-06473-6. Black 12-year-old Jax Freeman accidentally unleashes a spirit and learns about a magical war that’s been brewing for decades and must use his newfound powers to stop malevolent forces from endangering others.
John the Skeleton by Triinu Laan, trans. from the Estonian by Adam Cullen, illus. by Marja-Liisa Plats. Yonder, $19.95; ISBN 978-1-63206-370-0. Estonian creators Laan and Plats introduce an elderly couple who give a home to a skeleton, John—once a fixture in a science classroom. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Jonty Gentoo: The Adventures of a Penguin by Julia Donaldson, illus. by Axel Scheffler. Scholastic Press, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5461-3420-6. When young Jonty Gentoo escapes from the zoo, he travels all the way to the South Pole in search of the promise of penguin paradise.
The Last Dragon on Mars by Scott Reintgen. Aladdin, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-4651-3. Orphaned 13-year-old Lunar Jones discovers a secret bunker that’s home to juvenile dragon Dread, who wants resourceful Lunar to be the crew’s new captain. The illustrated book received a starred review from PW.
The Last Hope School for Magical Delinquents by Nicki Pau Preto. Viking, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-52851-8. A lonely tween finds her place among fellow misunderstood magicians in this empowering fantasy from Pau Preto.
The Library Dragon (30th Anniversary Edition) by Carmen Agra Deedy, illus. by Michael P. White. Peachtree/Quinlin, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-68263-791-3. This anniversary edition with a new author’s note marks 30 years for the students at Sunrise Elementary School and their dragon librarian.
Life Is Beautiful by Winsome Bingham, illus. by Molly Mendoza. Beach Lane, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-534-46995-2. Granny Dee, who lives “in the heart of Harlem,” always make the long trip to visit her granddaughter, and when she isn’t feeling well, her granddaughter decides to make the trip to see her.
Little Hare Finds a Gift by Oleksandr Shatokhin, trans. from the Ukranian by Ali Kinsella. Red Comet, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-63655-116-6. A kindhearted hare finds joy in generosity in this lightly adventurous holiday read.
Lost by Bob Staake. Random House/Schwartz, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-5937-0702-9. A child whose orange cat has gone missing distributes homemade “LOST” signs around the neighborhood in this largely wordless picture book. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Mabel Wants a Friend by Ariel Bernstein, illus. by Marc Rosenthal. S&S/Wiseman, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-4040-5. Through a new friendship, red fox Mabel realizes that others have needs and feelings, too—and learns that wants can go beyond a desire for self-gratification. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Make My Wish Come True by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick. Simon & Schuster, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-66593-756-6. Former best friends fake-date to further both their ambitions in this sapphic holiday romance from the married collaborators.
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science by Kate McKinnon, illus. by Alfredo Cáceres. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-55473-2. In this middle grade debut from SNL alum McKinnon, sisters Gertrude, Eugenia, and Dee-Dee Porch are taken in by the “infamous mad scientist” Millicent Quibb, who invites them to become her first students as they work together to combat a nefarious research association.
The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illus. by Mercè López. Carolrhoda, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-72849-210-0. Latham and Waters collaborate anew with this selection of 20 edifying poems that invite readers, per an introduction, to “experience through poetry the real-life mistakes from some people who are brave and open and growing—just like you.” The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
Nothing Like the Movies by Lynn Painter. S&S, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-665-94713-8. In this book set three years after Painter’s bestselling Better Than the Movies, Wes and Liz must face their past when Wes transfers to Liz’s school following their devastating breakup.
One Wise Sheep: An Untraditional Christmas Story by Ulrich Hub, illus. by Jörg Mühle. Gecko, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-7765-7-5954. A flock of sheep awaken to find their shepherds have all disappeared and fear they have been abducted by UFOs. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Onyx & Beyond by Amber McBride. Feiwel and Friends, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-250-90878-0. Black 10-year-old Onyx plots to steal a piece of a moon rock from the Smithsonian’s space exhibit, convinced that it will help his mother, who has early onset dementia, get her memories back.
Some Like It Cold by Elle McNicoll. Wednesday, $13 paper; ISBN 978-1-250-33553-1. Jasper kicks off her plan to leave Lake Pristine for good, but when Jasper and her “old foe” Arthur cross paths, both of their plans will need readjusting.
Stella & Marigold by Annie Barrows, illus. by Sophie Blackall. Chronicle, $15.99; ISBN 978-1-7972-1970-7. The creators of Ivy & Bean return in this delightful series kickoff for early readers, in which big sister Stella and little sister Marigold help each other through the woes of school and family life. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
A Very Merry 90s Christmas by J.T. Kelliher, illus. by Alex Fine. Penguin Workshop, $12.99; ISBN 978-0-593-75320-0. 1990s pop-culture fans can take a holiday ride down memory lane in this jam-packed reworking of Clement C. Moore’s “A Visit from St. Nicholas.”
We Are Free, You and Me by Colin Kaepernick and Nessa Diab, illus. by Gladys Jose. Scholastic, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-339-04294-7. This picture book collaboration from two activists showcases that children all deserve to enjoy and celebrate freedom.
The Wild Huntress by Emily Lloyd-Jones. Little, Brown, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-316-56814-2. Gwydion, prince of Gwynedd, hires monster hunter Branwen to infiltrate the upcoming Wild Hunt and team up with Prince Pryderi of Dyfed. But as the Hunt becomes increasingly treacherous, they must weigh the cost of achieving their goals against their bonds to one another. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of October, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
