Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles including a queer retelling of Anne of Green Gables, a guidebook to help young readers understand antiracism, a nonfiction primer on media literacy, a picture book on a girl’s experience finding a dog bone, and more.
Anne of Greenville by Mariko Tamaki. Disney-Hyperion/de la Cruz, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-368-07840-5. In this diverse and queer retelling of Anne of Green Gables, Anne Shirley’s move to Greenville is initially met with racist and homophobic encounters with new classmates. Things become more complicated when Anne realizes that her crush Gilly is a part of the friend group responsible for her mistreatment.
The Antiracist Kid by Tiffany Jewell, illus. by Nicole Miles. HarperCollins/Versify, $14.99; ISBN 978-0-35-862939-9. This guidebook offers readers accessible language, definitions, and tools to understand discrimination, and methods for how to fight racism in their own lives.
Big Lies: From Socrates to Social Media by Mark Kurlansky, illus. by Eric Zelz. Tilbury House, $22.95; ISBN 978-0-884489-12-2. Kurlansky details events occurring over the past 300 years to break down the “big lies” that permeate global history and explore how they affect the current U.S. media landscape.
Boney by Cary Fagan, illus. by Dasha Tolstikova. Groundwood, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-77306-548-9. Annabelle discovers a dog bone on the forest floor that piques her curiosity and becomes the focus of her dreams. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Brown Is Beautiful by Supriya Kelkar, illus. by Sofi. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-374-38952-9. An Indian American girl relates her family’s admiration of brown foliage in nature to the beauty of her own skin.
Busy Betty by Reese Witherspoon, illus. by Xindi Yan. Flamingo, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-5934-6588-2. Betty’s decision to scrub the family’s pug, Frank, results in a mess for the enthusiastic duo.
Caves by Nell Cross Beckerman, illus. by Kalen Chock. Orchard, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-338-72662-6. Homing in on seven caves with distinctive characteristics, Beckerman injects passion into this nonfiction examination of caves and caving. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
Children of the Stone City by Beverly Naidoo. Quill Tree, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-06-309696-7. Siblings Adam and Leila live in a country where “Permitteds” have privileges that second-class citizens don’t. When a school prank on Permitted children goes too far, it’s Adam and Leila who will face the consequences.
Feathers Together by Caron Levis, illus. by Charles Santoso. Abrams, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4197-5458-6. In this book based on a devoted real-life avian duo, stork pair Klepetan and Malena navigate being separated for the first time after Malena is injured and cannot migrate with Klepetan. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
The First to Die at the End by Adam Silvera. Quill Tree, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-324080-3. In the prequel to the bestselling YA novel They Both Die at the End, Death-Cast, an organization that calls members of society on the day they will die, makes its first-ever call to teens Orion and Valentino, who spend their supposed final day forming a deep and romantic relationship.
Flight 171 by Amy Christine Parker. Underlined, $9.99 paper; ISBN 978-0-5935-6303-8. While on an airplane for a class trip, students face a supernatural being’s frightening ultimatum: choose a member of their class to be sacrificed or their plane goes down.
Going Places: Victor Hugo Green and His Glorious Book by Tonya Bolden, illus. by Eric Velasquez. Quill Tree, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-296740-4. Readers follow Victor Hugo Green as he creates the ”Negro Motorist Green-Book” to help Black travelers during the Jim Crow era navigate safely across the country.
Hold Them Close by Jamilah Thompkins-Bigelow, illus. by Patrick Dougher with photographs by Jamel Shabazz. HarperCollins, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-06-303617-8. Thompkins-Bigelow pens a free verse love letter to Black children and community, carrying readers through a range of experiences to be held tight or dismissed. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
The Last Hope in Hopetown by Maria Tureaud. Little, Brown, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-316-36845-2. Sophie and her best friend Delphine investigate growing online conspiracy theories about “rogue” vampires when an epidemic reaches their hometown.
Leon the Extraordinary by Jamar Nicholas. Graphix, $24.99; ISBN 978-1-338-74415-6. Non-superhero Leon uses his common-sense skills to save his classmates from a mobile video game turning them into zombies. The graphic novel received a starred review from PW.
Lolo’s Light by Liz Garton Scanlon. Chronicle, $16.99 (232p) ISBN 978-1-7972-1294-4. Following the death of baby Lolo while under 12-year-old Millie Donally’s watch, Millie is consumed with grief until she discovers a warm, yellow light burning continuously in Lolo’s window. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers, illus. by Jeff Edwards. Levine Querido, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-64-614179-1. Spanning generations, Rogers recounts the past, present, and future trials and tribulations of one Cherokee family in this spine-tingling horror collection. The YA collection received a starred review from PW.
Mariana and Her Familia by Mónica Mancillas, illus. by Erika Meza. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-062-96246-1. Mancillas’s debut depicts a child’s uncertainty in navigating the dual identities of a bicultural upbringing.
Meanwhile, Back on Earth by Oliver Jeffers. Philomel, $22.99; ISBN 978-0-593-62152-3. A father and his two children venture off into space and observe the Earth and its struggles across time.
A Million Views by Aaron Starmer. Penguin Workshop, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-593-38693-4. Twelve-year-old Vermonter Brewster Gaines, who dreams of going viral, learns what it takes to create a picture-perfect moment when a small film project becomes increasingly more difficult.
Monarch Rising by Harper Glenn. Scholastic Press, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-338-74145-2. In a world where teens can only escape poverty through a selection process created by elite Georgian society, 17-year-old Josephine Monarch struggles between rising into her new position or supporting a brewing revolution.
Nothing Interesting Ever Happens to Ethan Fairmont by Nick Brooks. Union Square Kids, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-45494-557-4. When Ethan Fairmont, his classmate, and his former best friend discover an alien in their town, they attempt to keep it a secret from agents descending upon their city.
Payden's Pronoun Party by Blue Jaryn, illus. by Xochitl Cornejo. Page Street Kids, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-6456-7558-7. To find the pronouns that feel like a perfect match, Payden goes on an adventure exploring the many ways one can describe themselves in this encouraging story of gender identity.
The Restless Dark by Erica Waters. HarperTeen, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-0631-1590-3. A podcast encouraging readers to search for the remains of a serial killer draws teens Carolina, Maggie, and Lucy together as they try to uncover what happened to him while keeping their own secrets buried. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
A Rover’s Story by Jasmine Warga, illus by Matt Rockefeller. HarperCollins/Balzer + Bray, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-311392-3. Mars rover Resilience grows up preparing to execute a high-stakes Mars mission, while communicating with Sophie, daughter to a NASA scientist as she matures into adulthood. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo. Dutton, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-525-55528-5. After being exiled to California by her parents, Aria West befriends gender-nonconforming singer-songwriter Steph Nichols and over the course of the summer their budding relationship helps her redefine herself and her sexuality, in this companion novel to Lo’s NBA-winning Last Night at the Telegraph Club.
The Second Death of Edie and Violet Bond by Amanda Glaze. Union Square Kids, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4549-4678-6. While performing on a sensationalist spiritual tour, twin mediums Edie and Violet Bond investigate their mother’s mysterious death, which seems connected to the disappearance of numerous other women mediums. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
Sisterhood of Sleuths by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, illus. by Vesper Stamper. Little, Brown/Ottaviano, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-316-33107-4. Aspiring filmmaker Maizy teams up with new classmates’ friends to investigate the mysterious appearance of a box of Nancy Drew books.
This Story Is Not About a Kitten by Randall de Sève, illus. by Carson Ellis. Random House Studio, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-37453-5. Though the picture features a kitten, it’s a community’s willingness to come together to help it find a home that stands out in this picture book.
Two Degrees by Alan Gratz. Scholastic Press, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-338-73567-3. Four teenagers face off against wildfires, melting snowcaps, and a hurricane, devastating consequences of climate change that force them find new ways to survive.
The Underpants by Tammi Sauer, illus. by Joren Cull. Scholastic Press, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-3387-4027-1. Discovering freshly laundered underpants belonging to a farmer, a group of animals are comedically convinced that the undergarments are meant to be worn a different way.
What Shall We Play Now? by Taghreed A. Najjar, illus. by Charlotte Shama. Crocodile, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-62371-809-1. Raya and Samar turn a green piece of cloth into anything they want using their vast imaginations.
The Wolves Are Watching by Natalie Lund. Viking, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-593-35109-3. In this Slavic folklore-inspired supernatural mystery, 15-year-old Luce Green notices strange behavior in her cousin after she disappears and returns home.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of October, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
