Though a global pandemic darkened the early 2020s, four children’s book imprints that launched soon before its onset are shining brightly as they mark their fifth anniversaries this year. Those at the editorial helms of Penguin Young Readers’ Kokila, Make Me a World from Random House Children’s Books, Norton Young Readers, and Random House Graphic shared with PW some highlights of their imprint’s debut years and a preview of what’s ahead.

Kokila

The name Kokila comes from the Sanskrit word for the koel bird, celebrated in Indian poetry and myths as a harbinger of new beginnings. In that spirit, Kokila aims to make space for storytellers to explore the full range of their experiences in books for young readers, and that mission has led to the creation of a diverse list of titles spanning a spectrum of formats and age levels.

Under the direction of president and publisher Namrata Tripathi, Kokila, which launched in May 2019, currently publishes about 30 books annually. Kokila titles have collectively received 95 awards and honors, among them the Newbery Honor title The Night Diary by Veera Hiranandani; National Book Award finalists The Legend of Auntie Po by Shing Yin Khor and Patron Saints of Nothing by Randy Ribay; and Ribay’s Everything We Never Had, an NBA longlist title.

“What I’m proudest of at Kokila is what is invisible,” Tripathi told PW. “The imprint is invested in shaping the kinds of conversations that happen within publishing about what it takes to address the ecosystem that makes more diverse publishing possible. This includes thoughtful hiring practices, mentorship and career development, creating safe spaces to discuss projects and challenge assumptions, and looking for new creative talent outside of traditional pipelines.”

Next spring, Kokila will welcome Our Lake by debut author and illustrator Angie Kang, which explores the grief and love shared by two brothers who lose their father. Key summer 2025 releases are The Last Tiger by sister-brother duo Julia Riew and Brad Riew, a romantic YA fantasy inspired by Korean history and mythology; Ruby René Always Gets Her Way, written by Ashley Iman and illustrated by Gladys Jose, a sequel to Ruby René Had So Much to Say; and A Hero’s Guide to Summer Vacation by Pablo Cartaya, a multi-generational road-trip story.

“As we look to the future, our team has found it helpful to recommit to the foundational beliefs of the imprint,” Tripathi said, “beliefs that there is a power that comes from the optimism and rage we hold, and that channeling those forces to make the books we believe in is a way of serving young readers with love and respect. As a team, we try to ask ourselves what conversations publishing has been afraid to have, and to engage in them and lead where we can.”

Make Me a World

Five years after launching Make Me a World in January 2019, its creative director, author-illustrator Christopher Myers, reaffirmed the importance of the imprint’s mission to “publish books to give young readers the wherewithal and inspiration to know that they are essential to the process of making the world anew—daily.”

Emphasizing that children’s publishers “are supposed to be in the business of giving all kids the tools to change the world, so they understand that they have the right and the responsibility to make the world different,” Myers cautioned that “diversity and inclusion statistics reflect an unsaid reality, which is that the publishing world has long been hiding from, is even hostile to, the ways the world has changed around it.”

Yet the editor heralded what he called “a few bright lights—the work of [editors] Neal Porter and Phoebe Yeh and everything Kokila comes to mind—that choose to see the world as it is, keep up with the changes, and even make those changes happen.”

Make Me a World publishes four to six titles a year, an output level that Myers anticipates will continue, “given how selective we are in who, what, and how we publish.” Three years ago, he welcomed editor Lois Evans “and her vision” to the imprint’s team.

Among the books Myers is “especially proud of bringing to the world of literature for young people” is 2023’s My Grandfather’s Song by Phùng Nguyên Quang and Huynh Kim Liên, a picture book about a family’s connection to their land, their home, and each other.

A standout for this year is Safia Elhillo’s YA novel in verse, Bright Red Fruit, which Myers described as “a timely, poetic reimagining of the Persephone myth, one that I hope provides a framework for young women to think about their own voices and wants.” The imprint also released Elhillo’s Home Is Not a Country, a 2022 Coretta Scott King Award Honor Book.

Picture books due from Make Me a World next year include Together We Remember by Jackie Morera and Violeta Encarnación, about honoring a mother who has died. The story, Myers said, “breaks my heart so sweetly every time I read it.”

Another 2025 release is We Always Had Wings by poet Jess X. Snow, centering on an immigrant family that descends from migrating birds, which Myers called “surreal and beautiful and true in the way that myths and legends can intertwine with our lived experiences.”

Scheduled for 2026 is Jeong Is Jeong by Jessica Yoon, illustrated by Michelle Lee, a story about the evolution of language in multicultural homes; and Go Back & Get It by Mariah-Rose Marie, a YA graphic novel about two sisters who embark on a road trip to visit family in the American South, is due in 2028.

“We’ve always looked for places where there are holes, gaps, invisibilities, and unsung heroes in the children’s publishing space and tried to fill those gaps,” Myers said. “There will always be gaps—and it’s our job to recognize and address them, and to deliver to readers the books that make them feel seen, and powerful, and boundless.”

Norton Young Readers

When Simon Boughton arrived at W.W. Norton & Company in 2018 to build the house’s first-ever children’s book imprint, he was eager to position nonfiction, a focal strength for Norton and a particular interest of his, at the center of the program. While remaining true to that vision, as publishing director of Norton Young Readers, Boughton has assembled a roster of author-driven books spanning a broad range of age levels and categories, encompassing narrative nonfiction, middle grade and YA fiction, poetry, and picture books.

Discussing NYR’s accomplishments, Boughton cited the imprint’s success with the memoirs of Rex Ogle, whose debut book, Free Lunch, was released in the inaugural fall 2019 season and won the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Award. NYR published the author’s subsequent memoirs, Punching Bag, Abuela Don’t Forget Me, and Road Home, and will release his debut novel-in-verse, When We Ride, next March.

Two notable NYR books by journalist Paula Yoo are 2021’s From a Whisper to a Rallying Cry: The Killing of Vincent Chin and the Trial that Galvanized the Asian American Movement and Rising from the Ashes: Los Angeles, 1992. Edward Jae Song Lee, Latasha Harlins, Rodney King, and a City on Fire, released last May.

Another significant nonfiction title is NBA finalist and Coretta Scott King Honor Book Victory. Stand!: Raising My Fist for Justice by 1968 Olympic gold medalist and activist Tommie Smith, Derrick Barnes, and illustrator Dawud Anyabwile.

Published this month, In Praise of Mystery is the debut picture book from U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón. It presents a poem celebrating humankind’s curiosity, which is engraved on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft launched this month to explore Europa, a moon of Jupiter with a possible ocean under its ice crust. Three-time Caldecott Honor artist Peter Sís illustrated the book.

Among the imprint’s 2025 headliners are We Carry the Sun, the debut picture book of Newbery Medalist Tae Keller, illustrated by Rachel Wada, tracing the history of solar power; Fight AIDS! How Activism, Art, and Protest Changed the Course of a Deadly Epidemic and Reshaped a Nation by Michael J. Long; and Peyton June’s Bad Creek, a debut YA horror novel about an angry feminist ghost.

Anticipating it will be “a strong book for the holidays,” Boughton is awaiting the fall 2025 rollout of The Old Sleigh by Jarrett Pumphrey and Jerome Pumphrey, a companion to the brother collaborators’ previous books The Old Truck and The Old Boat.

NYR issues around 20 books annually, a number that Boughton predicted will grow in the upcoming years. Establishing the imprint’s identity, he said “has been very rewarding, despite the unusual circumstances of the pandemic. I’m very pleased about where we have been, where we are going, and all that we have to look forward to.”

Random House Graphic

When Random House Children’s Books announced the debut of Random House Graphic in 2018, the company underscored the wide range of books the imprint would publish in graphic format, including commercial and literary works aimed for kids of various ages, from early chapter book readers to the YA audience.

According to Michelle Nagler, SVP and publisher, Random House Brands and Graphic, RHG got off to a solid start in 2020. “We hired specialists to focus on the format from both a bookmaking and marketing perspective, including executive editor Whitney Leopard, who has worked tirelessly to grow RHG,” Nagler said.

In 2022, the imprint underwent a reorganization that brought together its editorial and design team and the editors and designers from Random House Books for Young Readers, creating a broader RHG list and enabling the imprint to grow from 12 titles in 2020 to 35 titles in 2025.

Forging a list that combines original graphic works, backlist and new titles from other imprints, and graphic novel adaptations of Random House brands (including Dr. Seuss, Magic Tree House, Sweet Valley Twins, and—beginning in 2025—Junie B. Jones), RHG “has exceeded every benchmark we set for growth at the outset, thanks of course to a booming graphic novel marketplace—readers cannot get enough,” Nagler said.

The publisher observed that the graphic novel audience is expanding quickly on both ends of the age spectrum. “While middle grade was already big five years ago, we have seen, as predicted, growth in other age categories, specifically chapter books and YA,” she said, noting that two of RHG’s strongest-selling series are in the younger chapter book space: Magic Tree House and Stephen Shaskan’s Pizza and Taco series.

“I am continually impressed by the broad range of genres and subjects that the editors bring in,” Nagler said, “from those early reader series to diverse and heartfelt middle grades, like Kathryn Ormsbee and Molly Brook’s Growing Pangs, to substantive but accessible YA nonfiction like Dan Nott’s Hidden Systems, which was longlisted for the National Book Award.”

Literary standouts on the backlist, both of which received multiple starred reviews, are The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen (2020), centering on a Vietnamese American teen who can only communicate with his parents through fairy tales; and The Moth Keeper by K. O’Neill, a fantasy about coming of age and community (2023). Both authors have new works on the imprint’s 2025 list: O’Neill’s A Song for You and I and Trung Le Nguyen’s Angelica and the Bear Prince.

Editorial director Shana Corey, a 28-year Random House veteran, is enthusiastic about what lies ahead. “Right now, it feels like the sky’s the limit!” she declared. “We are committed to finding and nurturing new talent and will continue to focus on publishing stories that kids see themselves in, like Debbie Fong’s Next Stop and Kathryn Ormsbee and Molly Brooks’s Turning Twelve this year, and Jose Pimienta’s Halfway to Somewhere and Julio Anta and Gabi Mendez’s Speak Up, Santiago! early next year. And we are working to build our YA list as our middle grade readers grow up. It’s going to be a big five years for us, and I’m excited for that—and for the five and 10 years after that as well!”