A new column where we round up recently announced children’s and YA titles of note.

Colin Kaepernick and Scholastic Dream Big

Athlete and activist Colin Kaepernick’s publishing company Kaepernick Publishing has partnered with Scholastic to release two graphic novels in 2023. The first, for middle grade readers, is titled Dreamer, written by Ukrainian-Nigerian-Canadian athlete and activist Akim “Dreamer” Aliu. The book will chart Aliu’s life, from his early days with his family to his journey of becoming a competitive hockey player and battling discrimination on his rise to fame. Dreamer, written by Aliu with Greg Anderson Elysée and illustrated by Karen De la Vega, will be released February 7, 2023. The second YA graphic novel, Change the Game, is co-written by Eve L. Ewing and illustrated by Orlando Caicedo, and is due out March 2023. Change the Game will focus on Kaepernick’s high school career, as he prepares to make a big decision about his future. The announcement extends Scholastic and Kaepernick’s relationship, as the pair previously published Kaepernick’s bestselling picture book, I Color Myself Different.

A Grave Friendship

Lisi Harrison, author of the bestselling series The Clique, and Daniel Kraus (Rotters; co-author of The Living Dead) are partnering for the middle grade series Graveyard Girls. The ghostly series follows five friends navigating the ups and downs of middle school, whose bond over their shared love of telling haunting stories bring them even closer. The series will kick off with 1-2-3-4, I Declare a Thumb War, to be published on September 6.

Mama in Congress

Picture book biography Mama in Congress, written by U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, her son Adam Tlaib, and author Miranda Paul, illustrated by Olivia Aserrl, has been acquired by Lynne Polvino at Clarion Books. The book is told from the perspective of her children, who watch as their mother, a first-generation Palestinian American, becomes the first Muslim woman elected to Michigan’s legislature, and the first Palestinian American woman to serve in the U.S. Congress. Publication is set for fall 2022.