Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a middle grade novel about a haunted town, a picture book featuring a vengeful bunny, a book about a boy and his talking bat, and a middle grade novel about a boy processing grief.

A Festival of Ghosts by William Alexander. S&S/McElderry, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-6918-0. In National Book Award–winner Alexander’s follow-up to 2017’s A Properly Unhaunted Place, the newly haunted town of Ingot’s young “appeasement specialist,” Rosa Díaz, has plenty of restless spirits in need of her expertise.

Attack of the 50-Foot Fluffy by Mike Boldt. S&S/McElderry, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-4887-1. After a morning of frustration, the protagonist of this picture book channels her anger into her stuffed bunny, who grows into a towering giant capable of smashing anything that has thwarted its owner.

Megabat by Anna Humphrey, illus. by Kass Reich. Tundra, $12.99; ISBN 978-0-7352-6257-7. In this middle grade novel, a boy discovers that he’s sharing his attic bedroom with a talking fruit bat.

The Dollar Kids by Jennifer Richard Jacobson, illus. by Ryan Andrews. Candlewick, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9474-6. Jacobson (Paper Things) confronts loss and new beginnings in this middle grade novel.

Spooked!: How a Radio Broadcast and the War of the Worlds Sparked the 1938 Invasion of America by Gail Jarrow. Calkins Creek, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-62979-776-2. Jarrow (Bubonic Panic) sets the stage in this detailed, illuminating exploration of why ordinary Americans panicked when they heard a broadcast of Martians invading New Jersey on October 30, 1938.

This Story Is a Lie by Tom Pollock. Soho Teen, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-61695-911-1. In this debut YA novel, the protagonist uses his savantlike math abilities to parse his daily experiences and cope with his severe anxiety.

A Gift from Abuela by Cecilia Ruiz. Candlewick, $15.99; ISBN 978-0-7636-9267-4. This family story by Ruiz (The Book of Memory Gaps) unfolds in Mexico, where Abuela and Nina, grandmother and granddaughter, enjoy small pleasures.

Toaff’s Way by Cynthia Voigt, illus. by Sydney Hanson. Knopf, $16.99; ISBN 978-1-5247-6536-1. Fans of Voigt’s Davis Farm books will relish this newest animal adventure featuring Toaff, a gray squirrel whose curiosity gets him in trouble as much as it brings happy surprises.

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