Hitting shelves next week are a picture book following two children through a world of stories, a middle grade graphic novel featuring two unlikely friends battling mutant foes, and a YA novel in which a teen struggles for popularity with a group of rumored witches.

How This Book Was Made by Mac Barnett, illus. by Adam Rex. Disney-Hyperion, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4231-5220-0. Barnett’s metafictive humor is in full effect in this picture book, where he, along with Rex’s multimedia illustrations, takes readers through a humorous look at how books are produced.

Ada Twist, Scientist by Andrea Beaty, illus. by David Roberts. Abrams, $17.95; ISBN 978-1-4197-2137-3. Beaty’s picture book series, including Iggy Peck, Architect and Rosie Revere, Engineer, continues with the story of Ada, who is interested in conducting experiments, no matter the scale.

Tinyville Town Gets to Work! by Brian Biggs. Abrams Appleseed, $16.95; ISBN 978-1-4197-2133-5. Biggs kicks off the Tinyville Town series, which focuses on hard-working, civic-minded folks, from the police officer to the trash collectors, who share their expertise to make a city work.

Monkey: Not Ready for the Baby by Marc Brown. Knopf, $12.99; ISBN 978-1-101-93327-5. Monkey’s family is growing in this followup to 2015’s Monkey: Not Ready for Kindergarten, and while Monkey may have gotten used to school, he’s unexcited about becoming a big brother.

Motor Miles by John Burningham. Candlewick, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9064-9. A little autonomy goes a long way in Burningham’s story about a “difficult” dog named Miles, who likes riding in the passenger seat of Alice’s car to a local cafe, where he sits at the table as other patrons admire him.

Click, Clack, Surprise! by Doreen Cronin, illus. by Betsy Lewin. Atheneum/Dlouhy, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-7031-5. In this addition to the series that began with Click, Clack, Moo, it’s Little Duck’s birthday, and the farm animals are busy getting ready to celebrate.

Lucy and Company by Marianne Dubuc. Kids Can, $16.95; ISBN 978-1-77138-662-3. In the first of three stories from Dubuc, Lucy eats her snack on a tree branch, attracting a gang of animal friends: Marcel the mouse, Henry the rabbit, Dot the turtle, and Adrian the snail, who is mistaken for a hazelnut and almost eaten.

The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg, illus. by Erwin Madrid. Bloomsbury, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-68119-051-8. In this series opener, Eulberg creates a present-day update of Sherlock Holmes set on Baker Street in Harlem.

The Graces by Laure Eve. Amulet, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-4197-2123-6. In British author Eve’s U.S. debut, a teenage loner becomes fixated on the most powerful family in town, insinuating herself into their inner circle in an attempt to gain popularity.

Girl Mans Up by M-E Girard. HarperTeen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-240417-6. In this debut novel, Girard explores questions of family, friendship, loyalty, and identity through the voice of Pen Oliveira, a 16-year-old girl who’s “not into dudes,” looks and dresses like a boy, and doesn’t “get why it’s such a big deal to people, the way I am.” The book earned a starred review from PW.

Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke. First Second, $14.99; ISBN 978-1-62672-264-4. In Hatke’s reworking of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” Jack must care for his younger sister, Maddy, while his single mother holds down two jobs over the summer.

Lift Your Light a Little Higher: The Story of Stephen Bishop: Slave-Explorer by Heather Henson, illus. by Bryan Collier. Atheneum/Dlouhy, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-2095-2. This picture book unfolds the story of Stephen Bishop, an enslaved African-American man in the 19th century, who gained attention for the subterranean tours he conducted of Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave.

Papillon by A.N. Kang. Disney-Hyperion, $16.99; ISBN 978-148471798-1. Kang’s debut introduces a rotund cat who isn’t fat, the narrator explains, “Just very fluffy. I mean fluffy! He is lighter than air, which can get him into trouble.” So Papillon’s adoring owner, Miss Tilley, creates a wardrobe of costumes meant to keep him from floating away.

A Child of Books by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9077-9. Jeffers (The Day the Crayons Quit) and typographic artist Winton collaborate on a hymn to the power of imagination, in which pen-and-ink drawings meet manipulated blocks of type, composed of passages from children’s classics.

And the Trees Crept In by Dawn Kurtagich. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-29870-4. In this gothic horror YA novel, after Silla Daniels and her mute younger sister, Nori, escape their abusive father and a London on the brink of World War III, they make their way to the blood-red family manor where their estranged aunt takes them in.

I Will Not Eat You by Adam Lehrhaupt, illus. by Scott Magoon. S&S/Wiseman, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-2933-7. In this picture book, Theodore debates eating the noisy animals that pass by his cave, and illustrator Magoon (Breathe) delivers laughs using nothing more than the creature’s eyes shifting left and right, all that readers can see of him.

Irreversible by Chris Lynch. Simon & Schuster, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-2985-6. Lynch returns to the story of Keir Sarafian, the newly graduated high school football star who was accused of date rape in 2005’s Inexcusable.

Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure by Ann M. Martin, with Annie Parnell, illus. by Ben Hatke. Feiwel and Friends, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-250-07169-9. Betty MacDonald’s beloved Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle always had one-of-a-kind ways to remedy children of their annoying or impolite habits. Now, nearly 70 years later, her singular magic is brought to a new generation, with this contemporary follow-up from Martin, writing with MacDonald’s great-granddaughter, Parnell. The book earned a starred review from PW.

The Memory of Things by Gae Polisner. St. Martin’s Griffin, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-09552-7. This somber yet hopeful novel from Polisner (The Summer of Letting Go) begins on the morning of September 11, 2001, with teenage protagonist Kyle fleeing across the Brooklyn Bridge, worrying about his first-responder father, his mother who is flying home from California, and his incapacitated uncle who needs his care.

Lucy and Linh by Alice Pung. Knopf, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-399-55048-5. In this YA novel, Lucy Lam, a Vietnam War refugee, lives in a dilapidated Australian town among families like her own: poor, hardworking immigrants who dream of a better life for their children.

Laser Moose and Rabbit Boy by Doug Savage. Andrews McMeel, $9.99 paper; ISBN 978-1-4494-7094-4. Savage, creator of the Savage Chickens webcomic, introduces two unlikely friends in this graphic novel; Laser Moose’s zap-first-and-ask-questions-later attitude is balanced by that of his sidekick, Rabbit Boy, who cheerfully rushes into potential danger.

Miss Muffet, or What Came After by Marilyn Singer, illus. by David Litchfield. Clarion, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-547-90566-2. Singer turns a four-line nursery rhyme into an elaborate period verse drama for early middle grade readers.

Swallow the Leader by Danna Smith, illus. by Kevin Sherry. HMH, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-544-10518-8. In this picture book, an orange fish carrying a flag leads a chain of 10 fish, who follow its every move.

The Monster Next Door by David Soman. Dial, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-525-42783-4. Ladybug Girl co-creator Soman charts the highs and lows of a nascent friendship in this picture book.

Hand in Hand by Rosemary Wells. Holt, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-62779-434-3. This picture book is Wells’s version of a parenting manual, expressed as a string of entreaties from a small bunny to its mother, beginning at birth.

Esquivel! Space-Age Sound Artist by Susan Wood, illus. by Duncan Tonatiuh. Charlesbridge, $17.95; ISBN 978-1-58089-673-3. Wood (Under the Freedom Tree) and Tonatiuh (Funny Bones) team up to recount the life of Juan García Esquivel (1918–2002), who grew up with music in Mexico, “where whirling mariachi bands let out joyful yells as they stamped and strummed,” and made it his life’s work as a bandleader and composer.

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