Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles including a picture book biography of an artist, a middle grade investigation of Flint, a story for slowing down, and a middle grade book about a budding writer.

Drawing on Walls: A Story of Keith Haring by Matthew Burgess, illus. by Josh Cochran. Enchanted Lion, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-59270-267-1. In this picture book biography about the artist and muralist, Burgess and Cochran relate their subject’s path to focusing his inexorable drive. The book earned a starred review from PW.

Poisoned Water: How the Citizens of Flint, Michigan, Fought for Their Lives and Warned the Nation by Candy J. Cooper with Marc Aronson. Bloomsbury, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-5476-0232-2. Effectively chronicling the Flint water crisis, investigative reporter Cooper and author Aronson (Rising Water) unearth the complex underpinnings of this tragedy. The middle grade book earned a starred review from PW.

Hurry Up!: A Book About Slowing Down by Kate Dopirak, illus. by Christopher Silas Neal. Beach Lane, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-2497-5. Kids aren’t exempt from fast-paced living, especially not the brown-skinned child who stars in this prescription for downtime by the late Dopirak (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Car).

The Next Great Jane by K.L. Going. Penguin/Dawson, $16.99; ISBN 978-0-8037-34753. Jane Austen fan and aspiring writer Jane, 12, can’t wait to meet a published author. When bestselling romance novelist J.E. Fairfax visits her tiny Maine town, she looks forward to learning “the secret to literary success.”

What About Worms!? (Elephant & Piggie Like Reading!) by Ryan T. Higgins and Mo Willems. Hyperion, $9.99; ISBN 978-1-368-04573-5. In this spry addition to Willems’s ongoing series, Elephant and Piggie read a book about deceptively fierce Tiger, who is not afraid of anything—except worms.

Night of the Living Ted by Barry Hutchison, illus. by Lee Cosgrove. Delacorte, $9.99; ISBN 978-0-593-17428-9. Two siblings get the surprise of their lives when the teddy bears they assembled at their local Create-a-Ted store on Halloween come to life as part of a plush army determined to conquer the town.

Breath Like Water by Anna Jarzab. Inkyard, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-335-05023-6. Jarzab’s contemplative YA novel questions how far athletes should go for a shot at the rings.

My Maddy by Gayle E. Pitman, illus. by Violet Tobacco. Magination, $14.99; ISBN 978-1-4338-3044-0. “Most mommies are girls. Most daddies are boys. But lots of parents are neither a boy nor a girl. Like my Maddy.” Pitman’s story centers a child with a nonbinary parent, or “Maddy” (a hybrid of mommy and daddy “used in some families to describe a parent who is transgender or gender diverse,” per an end note).

The Stray by Molly Ruttan. Penguin/Paulsen, $17.99; ISBN 978-0-525-51446-6. A family encounters a stray on their walk; since he has neither a collar nor a tag, they take him home. What the narrator never mentions—but readers can instantly see—is that the stray is a pet-size alien whose spaceship has crashed to earth.

Spacebot by Mike Twohy. S&S/Wiseman, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-5344-4436-2. When a UFO descends from an inky sky to land in a dog’s backyard one night, the yellow pup believes it has found a new friend.

We Are Not from Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez. Philomel, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-9848-1226-1. This powerful novel by Sanchez (Because of the Sun) follows three teenagers fleeing the violence, danger, and poverty of Puerto Barrios, the Guatemalan home they simultaneously love and hate. The book earned a starred review from PW.

All Along the River by Magnus Weightman. Clavis, $18.95; ISBN 978-1-60537-518-2. Bunny Rabbit and her brothers set sail to recover a beloved toy duck in this lighthearted seek-and-find adventure.

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