Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a middle grade novel about a girl and her family, a picture book ode to an indomitable child, a horror-fueled YA novel about YouTubers, a story about a naturalist Viking, and more.

Just Harriet by Elana K. Arnold, illus. by Dung Ho. Walden Pond, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-309204-4. Arnold (Starla Jean) shows her clear understanding of children’s emotions and behaviors as she traces Harriet’s changing heart and views in short chapters punctuated by lively illustrations from Ho (Eyes That Kiss in the Corners). The book earned a starred review from PW.

I Am Golden by Eva Chen, illus. by Sophie Diao. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-250-84205-3. In this richly metaphoric celebration of Chinese American identity, Chen (Roxy the Last Unisaurus Rex) offers a love letter from two parents to their child Mei: “You carry a golden flame... and it’s always with you.” The picture book earned a starred review from PW.

Horror Hotel by Victoria Fulton and Faith McClaren. Underlined, $9.99; ISBN 978-0-593-48348-0. A ghost vlog turns murder mystery in Fulton and McClaren’s layered YA horror debut. When Las Vegas–based YouTube group the Ghost Gang head to L.A.’s infamous Hearst Hotel to film over Halloween, Chase is sure the visit will earn them the Gold Play button that comes with amassing one million subscribers.

The Hiking Viking by Laura Gehl, illus. by Timothy Banks. Capstone, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-68446-427-2. Banks (A Valentine for Frankenstein) strikes a balance between awe-inspiring landscapes, conveyed with light and texture, and Tex Avery–style figures whose comic angularity echoes the craggy beauty of the world they inhabit. This picture book is a sweet-natured plea to get the heck outside—and appreciate the treasure at hand.

This Woven Kingdom by Tahereh Mafi. HarperCollins, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-297244-6. In a heart-wrenching YA novel based in Islamic texts and the Persian poem the Shahnameh, Mafi (An Emotion of Great Delight) complements rich worldbuilding with descriptive, sensorial prose that inspires the novel’s mythological backdrop, against which plays out an emotional plot, and a tortured romance, layered with court intrigue.

Taking Off: Airborne with Mary Wilkins Ellis by Emily Arnold McCully. Holiday House/Ferguson, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-8234-4966-8. In early 20th-century Britain, Mary Wilkins Ellis (1917–2018) talks her father into letting her ride in an airplane even though she’s only eight, and she subsequently earns her pilot’s license as a young adult, thus taking off in this picture book biography.

Roto and Roy: Helicopter Heroes by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illus. by Don Tate. Little, Brown, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-316-53496-3. Rinker’s (Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site) brisk, bouncy rhymes and Tate’s (William Still and His Freedom Stories) crisp, curvilinear digital cartoons chronicle the duo’s firefighting heroics in this picture book.

Solimar: The Sword of the Monarchs by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Disney-Hyperion, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4847-2835-2. Muñoz Ryan (Mañanaland) wields fairy tale charm in this rousing middle grade fantasy about a young Mexican royal who must protect her home and its rich natural resources from invading forces just before her quinceañera and official coronation.

Castles in Their Bones by Laura Sebastian. Delacorte, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-11816-0. In this extravagantly built series starter, Sebastian (the Ash Princess trilogy) introduces three 16-year-old princesses who were trained their entire lives to leave their home in Bessemia, marry princes of nearby kingdoms, and orchestrate those husbands’ demise, allowing their manipulative mother to take over.

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. Philomel, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-9848-3603-8. Sepetys (The Fountains of Silence) unveils the culture of constant surveillance in communist Romania through a suspenseful historical YA novel set at the brink of revolution. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor. Scholastic Press, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-338-67911-3. Thor (Tarnished Are the Stars) delves into politics through this high-stakes YA fantasy, in which magic—a fiery substance called flare—represents both money and power.

Call Me Miss Hamilton: One Woman’s Case for Equality and Respect by Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. by Jeffery Boston Weatherford. Millbrook, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-5415-6040-6. In this stirring illustrated profile, the mother-son author-illustrator team center Mary Lucille Hamilton (1935–2002), a Black civil rights activist and educator whose 1964 Supreme Court case, Hamilton v. Alabama, ensured that people of color would be addressed by courtesy titles and last names in court, like their white counterparts.

Maizy Chen’s Last Chance by Lisa Yee. Random House, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-984830-25-8. Yee’s (The Kidney Hypothetical) full house of endearing characters and assured voice prevail in a humorous, sincere middle grade novel emphasizing the taut thread between past and present, and the imperative to aid others.

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