Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles, including a haunted tale set in Vermont, a picture book about a young fashionista, and the true story of a gifted pianist.
Dead Voices by Katherine Arden. Putnam, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-525-51505-0. In a spooky sequel to Small Spaces, Arden alternates between the perspectives of friends Ollie, Coco, and Brian as they travel with Ollie’s father and Coco’s mother to a Vermont mountain cabin. The book earned a starred review from PW.
What Riley Wore by Elana K. Arnold, illus. by Linda Davick. Beach Lane, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-7260-9. In this picture book, protagonist Riley has an outfit for each day’s experiences.
Dancing Hands: How Teresa Carreño Played the Piano for President Lincoln by Margarita Engle, illus. by Rafael López. Atheneum, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4814-8740-5. This picture book tells the story of how a young refugee from Venezuela comforted the grieving president with her music.
All the Bad Apples by Moïra Fowley-Doyle. Penguin/Dawson, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-525-55274-1. In this emotionally brutal YA novel, a drama set in 2012 Ireland, a young woman goes on a road trip to uncover her family’s secret past.
Once Upon a Goat Dan Richards, illus. by Eric Barclay. Knopf, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5247-7374-8. After a royal couple requests a “kid” from their fairy godmother, they receive a baby goat in this picture book.
Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell, illus. by Faith Erin Hicks. First Second, $24.99; ISBN 978-1-250-31285-3. This YA graphic novel follows two teens working in a pumpkin patch, who are navigating love and friendship. The book earned a starred review from PW.
Spencer’s New Pet by Jessie Sima. Simon & Schuster, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-1877-6. With many nods to silent film—including a black-and-white palette, title cards dividing the story into three parts, dramatic close-ups, and iris shots—Sima (Love, Z) tells the nearly wordless story of a bespectacled boy and the balloon dog he loves very much. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
This Book of Mine by Sarah Stewart, illus. by David Small. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-374-30546-8. This picture book from married cocreators Stewart and Small (The Gardener) celebrates the passion of those who live and breathe books.
A Stone Sat Still Brendan Wenzel. Chronicle, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-4521-7318-4. As in his They All Saw a Cat, Wenzel’s picture book poem focuses on how point of view affects experience. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.
My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi. Dutton, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-399-18735-3. In this middle grade novel, rising seventh-grader Ebony-Grace Norfleet Freeman (or, as she prefers, Cadet E-Grace Starfleet) is obsessed with all manner of science fiction, much preferring her spacefaring internal life to the real world.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of August, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
