Hitting bookshelves next week are a wordless book about a lonely child and her mystical friends; a middle grade novel that melds mystery, ghosts, and magic; and the conclusion to a science fiction YA series in which teens battle a galactic corporation.

What’s Broken Between Us by Alexis Bass. HarperTeen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-227535-6. In a story about sorrow, regret, and love, Bass (Love and Other Theories) traces high-school senior Amanda’s struggles during the aftermath of tragedy.

Forbidden by Eve Bunting. Clarion, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-544-39092-8. Bunting (The Pirate Captain’s Daughter) returns with an eerie novel set in 1807 along the northern coast of Scotland, centering on orphaned 16-year-old Josie Ferguson, who leaves her Edinburgh home for a village with a secret.

VIP: I’m with the Band by Jen Calonita, illus. by Kristen Gudsnuk. Little, Brown, $17; ISBN 978-0-316-25972-9. Calonita (Flunked) targets Directioners and other boy band devotees with this first book in the V.I.P. series.

I Love You, Baby by Giles Andreae, illus. by Emma Dodd. Disney-Hyperion, $15.99; ISBN 978-1-4847-2230-5. Following I Love My Mommy and I Love My Daddy, Andreae and Dodd continue to share the love as a boy with a shock of blond hair sings the praises of the newborn baby in his life.

The Only Child by Guojing. Random/Schwartz & Wade, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-553-49704-5. In an author’s note, newcomer Guojing explains that this wordless graphic novel grew out of memories of “isolation and loneliness,” growing up under China’s one-child policy. The book earned a starred review from PW.

The Secret Files of Fairday Morrow by Jessica Haight and Stephanie Robinson, illus. by Roman Muradov. Delacorte, $15.99; ISBN 978-0-385-74471-3. Mixing realism and fantasy, Haight and Robinson’s debut opens with 11-year-old Fairday’s relentlessly cheerful parents turning a dilapidated Victorian into a bed-and-breakfast. No sooner has the family arrived than eerie sights and sounds begin to haunt Fairday.

I Love You Already! by Jory John, illus. by Benji Davies. Harper, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-06-237095-2. The odd couple from Goodnight Already! is back, and little has changed: Bear just wants a quiet morning, and Duck, who has enough enthusiasm for an entire flock, insists that they spend “quality time” together.

Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner (Disney-Hyperion, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4231-7104-1. The final installment of the science fiction YA trilogy Starbound finds the protagonists meeting two new characters as the fight against the most powerful corporation in the galaxy intensifies.

Not If I See You First by Eric Lindstrom. Little, Brown/Poppy, $18; ISBN 978-0-316-25985-9. Parker Grant lost her sight and her mother in a car crash; as the book opens, she’s coping with her father’s sudden death. A high school junior, Parker gets around well on her own and has some strict rules to keep her life manageable, which are tested when an ex-boyfriend reappears.

The Devil’s Engine: Hellraisers by Alexander Gordon Smith. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-374-30169-9. The road to hell is paved with good intentions in this first book in Smith’s Devil’s Engine series, as 16-year-old Marlow Green is caught up in an epic conflict between good and evil.

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