Hitting bookshelves next week are a spate of picture books, including one with two alien friends who speak a unique language, another in which a boy learns how to roar, and a YA novel in which a girl confronts a terminal illness.

Lion Lessons by Jon Agee. Dial, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-8037-3908-6. This picture book’s young narrator walks into a shop offering “Lion Lessons” from an actual lion, who holds a degree from the Harvard School of Claw and teaches the “seven steps to becoming a lion.” The book earned a starred review from PW.

The Memory Book by Lara Avery. Little, Brown/Poppy, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-28374-8. Avery (Anything but Ordinary) crafts an emotionally charged story about a young woman who has kept her eyes trained on the future, only to learn that all she has is now. The book earned a starred review from PW.

A Tiger Tail: (Or What Happened to Anya on Her First Day of School) by Mike Boldt. Simon & Schuster, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-4885-7. No kid wants to stand out for the wrong reasons on the first day of school. For Anya, that anxiety takes on a Kafka-lite physical manifestation: she wakes up on the big day and discovers that she has grown an actual tiger’s tail.

Too Many Moose! by Lisa Bakos, illus. by Mark Chambers. Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-4926-0935-3. Martha is excited by her new exotic pet, but gets herself into trouble when she orders more, and fills her house with moose.

The Summer Nick Taught His Cats to Read by Curtis Manley, illus. by Kate Berube. S&S/Wiseman, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-3569-7. Nick, a brown-skinned boy with a puff of curly hair, has two cats: Verne and Stevenson. Neither is happy when Nick turns his attention to a book: Verne lolls across the pages, and Stevenson sits on a stack of volumes, cleans his paws, and scowls. “So Nick decided to teach them to read,” Manley writes in his debut picture book, which earned a starred review from PW.

Best Frints in the Whole Universe by Antoinette Portis. Macmillan/Roaring Brook/Porter, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-136-4. On Planet Boborp, “teef are long and tempers are short,” yet two lookalike pink and purple aliens “have been best frints since they were little blobbies.” The book earned a starred review from PW.

The Mixed-Up Truck by Stephen Savage. Macmillan/Roaring Brook/Porter. $16.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-153-1. It’s a cement mixer’s first day on the job, and with his bright eyes and peppermint-stripe drum, he’s ready to make a good impression on the no-nonsense trucks on site. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Make Way for Readers by Judy Sierra, illus. by G. Brian Karas. S&S/Wiseman, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-1851-5. Sierra offers a new celebration of reading, this time focusing on the joys of a good read-aloud session.

Ming Goes to School by Deirdre Sullivan, illus. by Maja Löfdahl. Skyhorse/Sky Pony, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-5107-0050-5. Sullivan and Löfdahl debut with a cozy portrait of the everyday discoveries and accomplishments that school can bring. The book earned a starred review from PW.

A Unicorn Named Sparkle by Amy Young. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-374-30185-9. After sending away for a mail-order unicorn (only 25 cents!), Young’s heroine, Lucy, fantasizes about naming him Sparkle, garlanding him with flowers, and riding over rainbows on his back. The specimen that shows up, however, looks a lot like a goat.

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