The new year heralds exciting new titles, including a picture book that highlights a famous scientist's brainstorming process, a middle grade novel about a tween chasing popularity, a YA murder mystery inspired by a literary classic, and more.
Picture Books and Early Readers
Dawn Quigley, illus. by Nanibah Chacon. Heartdrum, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-06308-863-4. Ages 4–8. In an uplifting picture book about beholding others’ brightness, Ojibwe author Quigley, collaborating with Diné (Navajo) and Chicana artist Chacon, reassures: “Sometimes you might feel invisible. But I say to you: aaniin, I see your light.” The pages that follow incorporate the Ojibwe Seven Grandfather Teachings: courage, respect, humility, love, truth, wisdom, and honesty. The book received a starred review from PW.
The Curious Life of Cecilia Payne: Discovering the Stuff of Stars
Laura Alary, illus. by Yas Imamura. Eerdmans, $19.99 (56p) ISBN 978-0-8028-5515-2. Ages 7–12. Boundary-defying astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne (1900–1979) stars in this picture book biography. Early scenes highlight how a childhood spent immersed in the outdoors gives Payne the opportunity to hone her observational skills. Later, as a scholarship student at Cambridge, an astronomy lecture lights “a fire inside her.” The book received a starred review from PW.
The Dream Builder’s Blueprint: Dr. King’s Message to Young People
Alice Faye Duncan, illus. by E.B. Lewis. Calkins Creek, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-66268-031-1. Ages 7–10. To create this moving erasure poem about nonviolent protest and more, Duncan works with the text of an October 1967 talk that Martin Luther King Jr. gave at South Philadelphia’s Barratt Junior High. It’s a work poised to offer crucial guidance on how to build a meaningful life and contribute to the world. The book received a starred review from PW.
Karina Iceberg, illus. by Natasha Donovan. Heartdrum, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-063254-93-0. Ages 4–8. An Indigenous community works together to tan a large hide by hand in this captivating portrait of joyful collaboration. Making her picture book debut, Aleut-Alutiiq author Iceberg turns a step-by-step set of instructions into a jubilant account that starts with giving thanks and ends with using the final material. The book received a starred review from PW.
How to Hatch: A Gosling’s Guide to Breaking Free
Sara Holly Ackerman, illus. by Galia Bernstein. Knopf, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-81106-1. Ages 3–7. This exhilarating read that’s part nature documentary and part pep rally takes readers along as a goose embryo curled up inside an egg begins the laborious process of hatching. Whether accompanying a classroom project or read independently, the book will have readers cheering as they learn—and maybe thinking about their own arrival into the world, too. The book received a starred review from PW.
How to Have a Thought: A Walk with Charles Darwin
Nicholas Day, illus. by Hadley Hooper. Holiday House/Porter, $19.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8234-5850-9. Ages 4–8. For readers who feel constantly hurried along, Day offers up an anecdote from the life of Charles Darwin (1809–1882) as permission to do something downright rebellious: slow down and let their thoughts wander. Fittingly discursive text describes how Darwin walked his way to the world-changing idea of natural selection, working through ideas on daily circuits around a thinking path at his country estate. The book received a starred review from PW.
Torrey Maldonado, illus. by Teresa Martínez. Penguin/Paulsen, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-62496-8. Ages 4–8. A child navigates relationships that feel “just right” in this reassuring story that foregrounds dynamics difficult and easeful. See our q&a with Maldonado on pivoting from middle grade to make his picture book debut.
Amber McBride, illus. by Violeta Encarnación. HarperCollins, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-339540-4. Ages 4–8. In this immersive intergenerational work, a Black child develops her bond with hoodoo during a joyful “rootwork summer.” Making her picture book debut, National Book Award finalist McBride weaves community, spirituality, and love for the natural world into a summer’s worth of connections and practices. The book received a starred review from PW.
Melodies of the Weary Blues: Classic Poems Illustrated for Young People
Langston Hughes, edited by Shamar Knight-Justice, illus. by Jenin Mohammed et al. HarperCollins, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 978-0-06-332705-4. Ages 6–10. Editor and contributor Knight-Justice pairs 23 illustrators with a poem apiece in this arresting illustrators’ anthology that riffs on works from Langston Hughes’s first poetry collection, The Weary Blues. Depicting images of musicians, journeys, and the natural world, visual interpretations range from impressionistic to surreal. The book received a starred review from PW.
Adrienne Thurman, illus. by Kaylani Juanita. HarperCollins, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-063-29005-1. Ages 4–8. A child loves everything about her hair except wash day in Thurman’s picture book debut, a tender ode to the intergenerational bonds behind the ritual. After several attempts to dodge the event, including hiding from Mama, the girl laments, until Mama shares her own perspective: “Baby, wash day is love.” The book received a starred review from PW.
Suuban’s First Day: A First Day of Herding Story
Shugri Salh, illus. by Àlàbá Ònájìn. Roaring Brook, $18.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-2503-4020-7. Ages 3–6. A child grows into new responsibilities around the rhythms of the natural world in this captivating tale that’s based on the author’s childhood in the deserts of Somalia. The book received a starred review from PW.
Teaching for Change: How Septima Clark Led the Civil Rights Movement to Voting Justice
Yvonne Clark-Rhines and Monica Clark-Robinson, illus. by Abigail Albano-Payton. Quill Tree, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-325160-1. Ages 4–8. In this illuminating picture book biography about a figure who “could always find a way,” Clark-Rhines and Clark-Robinson frame the life of civil rights activist and teacher Septima Clark (1898–1987) as one driven by the subject’s passion for education and belief in equality. The book received a starred review from PW.
Troubled Waters: A River’s Journey Toward Justice
Carole Boston Weatherford, illus. by Bryan Collier. Bloomsbury, $20.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-68119-818-7. Ages 4–8. This arresting history of the Alabama River, told from the water body’s perspective, incorporates simple facts and lyrics from spirituals. The narrative traces how the river watched enslaved people fleeing bondage, stood witness to the Trail of Tears, saw the Black Belt’s birth, and viewed the violence of Bloody Sunday. The book received a starred review from PW.
Charnelle Pinkney Barlow. Doubleday, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-57122-4. Ages 3–7. Pinkney Barlow pays homage to her late grandfather, illustrator Jerry Pinkney, in a heartwarming reflection about artmaking’s improvisational process. It’s a portrait of “two artists” at work that takes young creators seriously. The book received a starred review from PW.
Kenan Thompson with Bryan Tucker, illus. by Tony Neal. Feiwel and Friends, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-2503-6481-4. Ages 3–6. Bunny bounds into his first day of school with visions of comedy stardom, but the character’s confidence quickly deflates when his awkward delivery and clunky jokes bomb. In a double picture book debut, veteran SNL funny guys Thompson and Tucker communicate how a casually delivered tight set can require ample effort. See Thompson and Tucker’s In Conversation.
Natalia Shaloshvili, trans. from the Russian by Lena Traer. Enchanted Lion, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5927-0477-4. Ages 3–6. Conjuring a wee feline with “Two small eyes./ Two small ears./ A mouth, full of small pointy teeth,” and more, Shaloshvili kicks off a tenderly wrought picture book meditation on the power of unconditional love. Self-sufficient but always a little tentative, the feline navigates a world that often feels stormy and unsettled—until a child with “a big heart and warm hands” welcomes the kitty inside for a cuddle. The book received a starred review from PW.
Emily Winfield Martin. Random House, $19.99 (48p) ISBN 979-8-217-02398-1. Ages 3–7. Nature-based play unleashes a sense of possibility in this meditative picture book about a wilderness-lover’s path to embracing the “something/ wild inside of her, waiting to come out.” See our q&a with Winfield Martin on the conscious and unconscious influences of Maurice Sendak.
Jon Klassen. Candlewick, $8.99 (28p) ISBN 978-1-5362-4822-7. Ages 2–5. A red pickup truck prompts reader empowerment in the Caldecott Medalist’s standout board book series starter, which expands upon his Your Places series. Minimalism motors toward an expansive experience in this smart work that puts youngest readers in the driver’s seat. The book received a starred review from PW.
Middle Grade
The Dream and the Hope: The Historic Rise of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Nation’s Highest Court
Lori Rozsa and Garen Thomas. HarperCollins, $19.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-06-331144-2. Ages 8–12. This comprehensive biography documents the rise of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Skillfully interwoven history helps readers connect pivotal social movements, such as the work of civil rights trailblazers, with Jackson’s personal experiences.
Chanel Miller. Philomel, $17.99 (256p) ISBN 978-0-593-62455-5. Ages 8–12. A seventh grader jeopardizes everything she likes about herself for a chance at popularity in this sensitive novel by the Newbery Honor author. Subtle, original, and lightly suspenseful, protagonist Luna’s journey toward learning to balance the complex ins and outs of social interaction with her own desires will resonate with those seeking community and understanding. See our q&a with Miller. The book received a starred review from PW.
The Ordinary and Extraordinary Auden Greene
Corey Ann Haydu. Quill Tree, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-334814-1. Ages 8–12. Eleven-year-old Denny distracts herself from her mother’s alcohol relapse by taking refuge in Sorrowfield, the shared fantasy world she writes about with her best friend Runa. But when Runa becomes more interested in fitting in with the popular girls than talking about dragons and princesses—and insists that Denny leave Sorrowfield behind to do the same—Denny worries that her only comforts are slipping away.
Taryn Souders. Sourcebooks, $16.99 hardcover (272p) ISBN 978-1-4642-4497-1; $7.99 paper ISBN 978-1-7282-7144-6. Ages 8–12. Three youths become embroiled in a murder investigation in this affectionate whodunit set in a small-town in Georgia. Featuring sympathetically flawed and idiosyncratic characters, the novel centers their relationships to highlight the importance of forgiveness. See Souders’s essay on blending history and mystery to hook young readers.
V.T. Bidania. Penguin/Paulsen, $18.99 (432p) ISBN 978-0-59369-720-7. Ages 10 and up. This affecting historical novel, narrated in evocative verse by 11-year-old Gao Sheng, traces the year during which her extended family of 20 lived as refugees following the end of the Vietnam War. The book received a starred review from PW.
Young Adult
Katie Bernet. S&S/Barley, $19.99 (400p) ISBN 978-1-6659-8869-8. Ages 12 and up. Debut author Katie Bernet puts a modern murder mystery spin on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women in her YA novel, the first release in a two-book deal with new S&S imprint Sarah Barley Books, and the first selection for Hello Sunshine’s new YA book club, Sunnie. See our q&a with Bernet. The book received a starred review from PW.
Maggie Horne. Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, $19.99 (336p) ISBN 978-1-250-37737-1. Ages 14 and up. Still bitter that Levi abandoned them freshman year to climb the social ladder, wallflowers Stella and Freddie rebrand themselves as “mythical hot girls” to sabotage Levi’s chances at winning a college scholarship. But when Stella’s schemes start adversely affecting innocent bystanders, Freddie enlists Levi’s help in stopping her—and learns a secret that rekindles her own covert crush on Levi—in this fresh and funny sapphic romance. The book received a starred review from PW.
Robert Mgrdich Apelian. Penguin Workshop, $25.99 hardcover (304p) ISBN 978-0-5936-5889-5; $17.99 paper ISBN 978-0-5936-5890-1. Ages 12 and up. Apelian serves up quite the feast in this stunning graphic novel debut that celebrates food’s ability to inform personal identity and foster connection. Seventeen-year-old Katah remembers little about his late father, an acclaimed chef in an imagined alternate Persian Empire. Nevertheless, the teen has been having vivid dreams of him; these visions soon lead him to a powerful spirit who knew Katah’s father. The book received a starred review from PW.
Alyssa Bermudez. Roaring Brook, $22.99 hardcover (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-77430-9; $14.99 paper ISBN 978-1-250-77431-6. Ages 10–14. Organized as diary entries starting on Sept. 1, 2002, this moving graphic novel memoir follows the creator as she struggles to navigate ninth grade at an all-girls school in New York City. It’s a heartfelt and touching exploration of identity, loss, friendship, and family. The book received a starred review from PW.
Robin Gow. Amulet, $18.99 (328p) ISBN 978-1-4197-7738-7. Ages 10–14. Complex ruminations on gender identity, loneliness, and neurodiversity accompany layered interpretations of grief and anger in this eloquent verse novel starring an autistic and transgender eighth grader. The book received a starred review from PW.
L.S. Stratton. Penguin/Paulsen, $19.99 (320p) ISBN 979-8-2170-0494-2. Ages 12 and up. In an eerie speculative thriller from Stratton, making her YA debut, a Black teen finds herself caught in a conspiracy while visiting a former sundown town. Tension continually runs high throughout this illuminating and unsettling thriller that empathetically addresses topics relating to Black history and mental health stigma. The book received a starred review from PW.
Roshani Chokshi. Wednesday, $22 (400p) ISBN 978-1-250-87310-1. Ages 13 and up. To become ruler of the Isle of Malys, one must win the hand—or literal heart—of a male descendant of the royal bloodline, resulting in sometimes deadly consequences in this sharp romantasy. See our q&a with Chokshi.
