Top 10
The Book of Murmurs
Candice Purwin. Fantagraphics, Mar. 17 ($18.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-8750-0176-5)
An intricate fantasy world is conjured in Purwin’s story of a child named Little Moon’s escape into bedtime tales of Glassmoor forest, where giants, goblins, and other wonders roam. Ages 8–12.
Inbetweens
Faith Erin Hicks. First Second, Mar. 31 ($22.99, ISBN 978-1-250-83875-9)
Eisner winner Hicks returns with what PW’s starred review called a “love letter to creativity and the bonds of sisterhood” that mixes two classic tween themes: twins and summer camp. Ages 10–14.
A Kid Like Me
Norm Feuti. HarperAlley, Feb. 3 ($15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-335410-4)
Feuti draws on his experience growing up working-class for this “realistic and uplifting graphic novel,” per PW’s review, in which a teen “whose family is experiencing financial strain struggles to navigate his middle school’s constantly shifting social landscape.” Ages 8–12.
Kingdom Unraveled: A Closely Knit Graphic Adventure
Mariana DiMercurio. Andrews McMeel, July 28 ($22.99, ISBN 978-1-5248-9888-5)
An endangered kingdom gets an unlikely heroine in 70-year-old Jo, a knitter who along with her buddy Roy musters her utmost to stitch and purl evil away. Ages 10–12.
Last Day Pool Party
Emma Steinkellner. Labyrinth Road, Apr. 7 ($21.99, ISBN 979-8-217-03142-9)
Bestseller Steinkellner rounds up a varied cast of characters and their tween drama, and throws everyone in the pool for a party on the last day of school. Ages 8–12.
The Marsh Fellows
Anna-Laura Sullivan. Top Shelf, May 19 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-603-09589-1)
This debut from Instagram star Sullivan features a cute curmudgeon who opposes the optimism of Slumber City, a toxically positive oasis in a postapocalyptic world. Ages 9–12.
Money Talks (The Brainstormerz #1)
Kwame Alexander, Cassidy Dyce, and Rashad Doucet. LB Ink, May 5 ($13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-316-54108-4)
The drive to secure funds to buy a smartphone unites Lex and his friends in a series of schemes in this series launch led by Newbery medalist Alexander. Ages 8–12.
Offside
Christina Diaz Gonzalez and Mari Costa. Graphix, July 7 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-339-02360-1)
Gonzalez follows up Invisible with a story of feuding teammates on a middle grade soccer squad that combines Spanish and English text throughout. Ages 8–12.
Opting Out
Maia Kobabe and Lucky Srikumar. Graphix, May 5 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-339-01224-7)
Gender Queer phenom Kobabe teams up with newcomer artist Srikumar for a graphic novel about a seventh grader named Saachi, who eschews the gender binary. Ages 10–12.
Superpunk
Mirtes Santana and Guilherme Petreca. Oni, May 5 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-89488-076-1)
When a punk-loving tween plays a cassette tape (borrowed from her grandma) backwards, it gives her powers to fight the monsters it also calls forth. Ages 8–12.
Middle Grade ComicsLonglist
Abrams Fanfare
Feo the Chupacabra by Sequoia Blankenship and Rob Thompson (Apr. 7, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-6369-4). The resident chupacabra of a troubled small town in Mexico sets out with a monster movie–loving young mechanic named Camila on a quest to make it big in Hollywood and save folks back home. Ages 8–12.
Lionel Messi’s World Cup Triumph (History’s Greatest Games #1) by Chris Barish and Nate Sweitzer (Mar. 17, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-7939-8). The history of World Cup soccer gets told with a spotlight on the 2022 final, when Lionel Messi and Argentina scored the win against France. Ages 8–12.
The Lionharts by Mike Lawrence (Mar. 3, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-5996-3). Brothers from a family of for-hire adventurers strike out on a very personal quest when their parents go missing on assignment—and their grandparents chase after to help, swords raised high. Ages 10–13.
Aladdin
Really Rubie by Maddie Frost (June 2, $14.99, ISBN 979-8-3471-0399-7). This hybrid illustrated novel with comics puts 11-year-old Rubie in a pickle. When her best friend has to cancel on sleepaway camp, Rubie must contend with a cabin-full of girls she doesn’t know—and no one to scheme with about crushes. Ages 8–12.
Andrews McMeel
Finnik the Furious by Josh Ulrich (June 2, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-5248-8344-7). Finnik’s parents jaunt off to hunt monsters, leaving him at home to watch his baby sister. When he bundles her up to join the fun, a prehistoric beast snatches her away, and he chases after. Ages 9–11.
Speed Reader by Matthew Cody and Zack Giallongo (Mar. 3, $21.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5248-9971-4). A kid who always runs late picks up a book that bequeaths him the superpower of speed—and he’s off to the races to save his town. Ages 8–12.
Bloomsbury
Camp Monster by Kate Messner and Falynn Koch (Feb. 3, $14.99, ISBN 978-1-5476-0941-3). Low on enrollment, a camp run by yetis opens up its cabins to other monsters in hopes of staying afloat, but they find that goblins, ogres, and werewolves don’t all play nice together. Ages 8–11.
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale and Victoria Ying (Apr. 7, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-5476-1202-4). Hale’s New York Times bestseller and Newbery honoree gets adapted into a graphic novel. The girls of a mountain village are put through rigorous training to be courted by a prince, causing Miri to wonder if royalty could really be worth it. Ages 10–14.
Charlesbridge Moves
Professor D Takes Control by Dan Ariely and Omer Hoffman (July 7, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-62354-751-6). A kid who’s behind on his homework runs experiments on his parents to prove to them that they’re just as distractible in this hybrid illustrated novel with comics that uses storytelling to lay out social science principles. Ages 8–12.
Encantos
Sloomoo: Making Friends by Melissa de la Cruz and Mike Johnston (Mar. 24, $12.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-954689-36-7). Inspired by goings-on at a real-life slime museum, this graphic novel finds a goo-fan named Daisy searching for a long-lost slime maker (who went missing along with Sloomoo, a creature made of slime) and forging friendships bonded by her slippery hobby. Ages 6–10.
Fantagraphics
Young Shadow & the Watchdogs by Ben Sears (Apr. 21, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-8750-0182-6). In the mysterious town of Bolt City, Young Shadow and his crew of Watchdogs help keep their neighbors happy and pets safe. They encounter an unexpected spooky challenge when the baseball stadium hosts a haunted game, and Shadow has to step up to the plate against ghouls. Ages 8–12.
First Second
Hand-Me-Down by Damian Alexander (July 28, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-250-86020-0). A middle schooler raised by his grandmother since his mother died in his infancy connects to both women by sifting through the photos and ephemera of their own youth. Ages 8–12.
Journey to Tomioka by Laurent Galandon and Michaël Crouzat, trans. by Anne and Owen Smith (June 9, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-250-40671-2). A young boy journeys with his grandmother and sister—and the help of friendly yōkai, Japanese folk spirits—through the radiation-filled landscape around the Fukushima exclusion zone to bring home the ashes of his parents, who were killed in the tsunami. Ages 8–12.
Graphix
A Blood Moon (Snowlands #1) by Morr Meroz and Collin Fogel (Feb. 3, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5461-7173-7). An all-white wolf cub named Feba is shunned when her pack keeps getting attacked by an unknown evil. She wanders the Snowlands, traveling with a leopard and a wildcat who are avoiding their own troubles. Ages 9–12.
Fruitcake by Rex Ogle and Dave Valeza (Apr. 7, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-338-57507-1). YALSA and Stonewall award winner Ogle returns with another memoir about growing up. Now in eighth grade, Rex is confused by his attraction to his friend Drew, who kissed him in private but won’t even talk to him at school. Ages 10–12.
Midsummer Sisters by Niki Smith (June 2, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5461-2894-6). Stepsisters summer with their grandmother in the Outer Banks, taking care of a wild foal among the beauty of the coastal islands, as they grapple with the potential breakup of their parents’ marriage. Ages 9–12.
Mixed Feelings by Sara Amini and Shadia Amin (Apr. 7, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-338-79739-8). Sara, a Colombian Iranian sixth grader, hopes to get over her best friend’s ditching her at the start of middle school by joining drama club, only to find more drama, onstage and off. Ages 8–12.
Greenwillow
Clock Hands by Marieke Nijkamp and Sylvia Bi (Apr. 21, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-302713-8). In a society run by guilds, ambitious metal worker Vale bucks the rules to apprentice with Maestro Giuseppe and his rabble-rousing daughter, Stella, on the invention of an astronomical clock in this companion tale to Ink Girls. Ages 8–12.
HarperAlley
My Sister, the Freak by Dani Jones (Apr. 14, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-334326-9). Siblings clash when big sister’s a stereotypical popular teen, obsessed with the upcoming school dance, and the younger one’s a sci-fi fan, obsessed with the supernatural—but the latter’s expertise comes in handy when aliens land. Ages 8–12.
The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot and Bethany Crandall (Apr. 7, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-345917-5) adapts Cabot’s bestselling novel into a comic, wherein an awkward teen finds out she’s secretly European royalty—and has to step up her refinement, fast. Ages 8 and up.
Holiday House
The Case of the Missing Kolo (Korobá #1) by Àlàbá Ònájìn (Feb. 24, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-8234-5913-1). Ten-year-old Korobá’s an amateur sleuth on the case of a missing piggy bank, weaving through her busy Nigerian fishing village along with two besties and a puppy named Popi. Ages 7–11.
Holiday House/Porter
Chernobyl, Life, and Other Disasters: A Graphic Memoir by Yevgenia Nayberg (Apr. 14, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-8234-6058-8) recalls the artist’s upbringing as a creative kid in 1980s Ukraine against the backdrop of the Chernobyl disaster, political turmoil, and antisemitic discrimination. Ages 10 and up.
Kids Can
A Comic Book History of the Big Bang and Beyond by Anna Claybourne and Rikus Ferreira (May 5, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5253-1503-9). This comics explainer summarizes billions of years to track Earth’s evolution and its place in the solar system from the big bang to the arrival—then extinction—of the dinosaurs. Ages 8–12.
Looking at the Sky by Amanda West Lewis and Abigail Rajunov (June 2, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-5253-1024-9). The legacy of children’s rights advocate Janusz Korczak is celebrated in this graphic novel set in the 1922 orphanage he founded in Warsaw that follows a seven-year-old Jewish boy who resides there and later escapes the Nazis. Ages 8–12.
Levine Querido
The Froggy Library by Julie Fiveash (Apr. 14, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-64614-635-2). A frog volunteers at a local library in a Diné community and builds a collection to bring new faces into the branch and celebrate what makes the people it serves special. Ages 8–12.
Magination
Professor Thomas Cat’s Guide to Understanding the Human Brain: The Dyslexia Files by Rachael Allen and Miguel Díaz Rivas (Mar. 3, $18.99, ISBN 978-1-4338-4878-0). A cat scientist trying to take over the world lectures a girl with dyslexia on how her brain works—but she steps up to the dais to fill in the human experience. Ages 9–14.
Melissa de la Cruz Studio
Pet Placement Society by Primo Gallanosa (Mar. 31, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-368-09729-1). Mia’s family runs a pet shelter, and she decides to help find the right homes for the animals, contending with the imperfect results and middle school drama. Ages 8–12.
MIT Kids
Sama Crushes the Code by Samaira Mehta and Jenny Alvarado (July 14, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-5362-3361-2). Sama hopes to find friendship and coding challenges at her middle school’s technology club, but sees her novice skills put to the test by more experienced programmer kids, in this graphic novel by real-life teen tech entrepreneur Mehta. Ages 8–12.
Oni
The Pancake Trap by Stephanie Young and Allyson Lassiter (June 9, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-89488-090-7). Sisters Maple, who loves to cook, and Margaret, a literal beauty queen, put aside their differences to chase a fortune in gold that could save their grandmother’s down-on-its-luck diner. Ages 8–12.
Papercutz
Horses (Secret S.T.E.A.M. Society #1) by Trevor Mueller and Gabriel Mayorga (Feb. 10, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5458-2331-6). The equestrian science–focused launch title for this educational adventure series finds an alien exchange student learning how to ride. Other volumes due this spring cover topics including music and spaceflight. Ages 7–12.
Leo da Vinci: Renaissance Kid by Richard Ashley Hamilton and Marco Matrone (Apr. 14, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-5458-2374-3). Da Vinci is recast as a prankster kid who, in his spare time off from being an apprentice, solves a global conspiracy with a crew of quirky friends including a girl with a coy smile reminiscent of the Mona Lisa. Ages 7–12.
Nothing Can Stop the Ape by Thomas Sniegoski, Jeanine Acheson, and Craig Russeau (June 9, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-5458-2669-0). This adventure tale features a boy, and his sidekick French bulldog, whose mom has been possessed by an evil ancient goddess—so he unleashes a bonkers gorilla god to free her. Ages 7–12.
Xanar and Mr. Tuxedo by Sean Ryan and Giulia Giacomino (July 7, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5458-2708-6). A penguin and a boy who live in separate universes become unlikely allies due to a common enemy—the evil sorcerer Roy Higgins, who wants to destroy all universes across all timelines. Ages 10–14.
Penguin Workshop
The Ghost in Cabin 13 by J.C. Phillipps (Apr. 21, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-88730-1). Twelve-year-old Leah’s off to her very first sleepaway camp, where her worries about making friends are soon trumped by encounters with evil spirits—including one that takes the doll she brought for comfort. Ages 8–12.
Random House Graphic
Kid Detective (Harper Sharp #1) by Jarrett Williams (Mar. 3, $21.99, ISBN 978-0-593-30305-4). This “jovial graphic novel mystery,” per PW’s review, “fuses classic detective tropes with the comedic chaos of elementary school life.” Ages 8–12.
The Mighty (Hilo Presents #1) by Judd Winick (Feb. 3, $14.99, ISBN 978-0-593-30530-0). New York Times bestseller Winick launches a series of side stories inspired by Hilo with this tale of an ordinary girl in the troubled town of Willow City discovering she might be its unexpected savior. Ages 8–12.
Oh Brother: A Graphic Memoir by Georgina Chadderton (Feb. 10, $21.99, ISBN 978-0-593-48827-0). The artist recounts growing up and dealing with typical challenges of adolescence as the sibling of a nonspeaking autistic brother whom she cares about deeply, and often helps cares for—while trying to understand how to also care for herself. Ages 8–12.
S&S Books for Young Readers
The Endless Game by J.D. Amato and Sophie Morse (Apr. 28, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-6659-2716-1). In a town where an elaborate game of capture the flag has been played for generations, a newcomer named Fred learns the contest’s rules—and finds his team. Ages 8–12.
Second Story
Shy Cat and the Stuff-the-Bus Challenge by Dian Day and Amanda White (Mar. 3, $17.95 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-77260-445-0). Mila comes to realize her friend Kit is always snacking at their playdates because she doesn’t have enough to eat at home. “Sensitive portrayals of food insecurity and child hunger distinguish this compassionate work,” per PW’s review. Ages 9–12.
Top Shelf
Minnie Pouches in the MicroRealm by Caleb Goellner (June 23, $14.99, ISBN 978-1-603-09590-7). The animal-loving daughter of multiverse travel influencers is inconveniently camera shy—so she runs out on her parents and into the wilds of the MicroRealm, chasing after a pack of missing pets. Ages 9–12.
Toon
Jake Spooky and the Wolves Within Him by Michael Grover (Apr. 14, $13.99, ISBN 978-1-6626-6579-0). Jake Spooky is struck by an illness that makes him vomit wolves, which is not the only odd happening in this comic about slacker roommates, including a guy named Brand-o with a television for a head. Ages 8–12.
Tundra
Fantastic Frog and the Amazing Tad Lad by Brandon Reese (Feb. 3, $21.99, ISBN 978-1-77488-597-0). A frog and a tadpole team up against evil in this “quirky graphic novel” that “revels in its silliness while exploring themes of environmental stewardship and self-discovery,” per PW’s review. Ages 8–12.
Vault Comics
Travis Muñoz and the Fire of the Aztecs by Mark O. Stack, Anne Marcano, and Karla Souza (Apr. 28, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-63849-124-8). In this adventure based on Mexican folklore, a boy named Travis, who just wants to make the baseball team, gets inducted by his uncle as a warrior priest for an Aztec sun god. Plus, his bestie Yolanda is peeved she wasn’t chosen for the gig. Ages 10 and up.
Viking
The Girl Who Loved Monsters by Insha Fitzpatrick and Ashley Robin Franklin (July 28, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-69091-8). Charlotte checks out Liber de Monstrum from her school library in Devilfish Bay, and the pages she reads aloud at night seem to conjure up weird weather and creatures. Ages 8–12.
Read more from our spring 2026 comics & graphic novels preview feature.
