Pet shop inhabitants endeavor to follow their Speed Racer dreams in this high-octane, slapstick graphic novel by Jennings (Whoa Panda!). Ham the hamster’s everyday life is one of routine. Once the pet shop’s lights are out and all the people have gone home, however, Ham and fellow residents—including several reptiles and a tiny bird—compete in a nightly race called Hamster-Ball Hullabaloo. But there’s a new kid on the block, one who threatens Ham’s status as the race’s reigning champion: Shelby, an amiable ferret whose overtures of friendship Ham rebukes. Shelby’s unorthodox racing method—balancing on a hamster ball’s exterior—sparks renewed interest in the entertainment, now called the Four-Wheeled Furrenzy, which utilizes pilfered model cars from the pet shop’s neighboring toy store, Ha-Bee’s Hobby Hive. As the stakes heat up with new cars, courses, and fancy modifications, Ham must decide whether it’s more important to be the fastest or to make new friends. Though snarky narration frequently intercuts the action, expressive linework and blocky coloring impart motion, setting the stage for a propulsive animalian comedy series launch. Ages 5–8. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

This laugh-out-loud collection of b&w 1960s comic strips—the first of a five-volume series by Argentinian cartoonist Quino—stars stout, curly-haired six-year-old Mafalda as she relays precocious sociopolitical observations about mid-century Latin American society à la Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. When her father points out their location in the Southern Hemisphere on the family globe, Mafalda ascertains that hanging upside down at the bottom of the Earth explains Argentina’s perceived status as an international underdog: “Gravity makes your ideas fall out of your head.” Eager to prove that she and others in her community have what it takes to join the rapidly developing vanguard of global scientific enterprise, Mafalda uses the family seltzer pump to power a homemade space suit. Poignant moments also unravel alongside Mafalda’s well-intentioned if questionably executed exploits, as when she dreams that her mother has earned a college degree, then wakes to discover her mother as she’s always been, a diploma-shaped curler in her hair a sole sign of academic achievement. The assured comedic visual energy of the paneled strips fosters giggles and food for thought via coming-of-age themes that transcend time and place. Ages 7–11. (June)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

A teen investigating her friend’s suspicious death finds herself in over her head in this tense locked-room mystery by Harris (This Town Is on Fire). High school senior Liv is left reeling after her best friend Hope purportedly dies by suicide. But Liv, haunted by photos of Hope’s bruised face—which Hope posted online before her death—is certain that Hope’s boyfriend Brendan is somehow involved. Enlisting her former friends Kizzy and Sherie, Liv lures Brendan to a vacant high-tech mansion to coax a confession out of him. Her plan goes awry following the arrival of a pair of Brendan’s friends, and then a storm knocks the power out, trapping the teens in the malfunctioning smart house. As tension runs high, accusations fly about what happened to Hope. And things go from bad to worse when one of the group is mysteriously killed. Flashback chapters detail events prior to Hope’s death, further highlighting the narrative’s centering of mental health issues and the stigma they can carry, particularly within the protagonist’s Black Virginia community. It’s an edge-of-the-seat thriller narrated in a magnetic first-person POV by Liv, whose at times contradictory observations continually raise the stakes. Ages 14–up. Agent: Natalie Lakosil, Looking Glass Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

An unlikely trio becomes entangled in the machinations of capricious gods in this ambitious duology opener by Williams (Titanchild). As a child, orphaned human Elver is sacrificed by a mage to deity the Bloody Claw. Saved by the Queen of Serpents, Elver is then transformed by her rescuer into a monster with poisonous skin and charged with protecting the mythical Jih Forest. Now 17, Elver is content with her role separated from others, until a stranger—Artair—trespasses on her domain. Artair is one of the Sleepless, a monk whose body becomes possessed by an enigmatic spirit while he sleeps. When a mage serving the Bloody Claw invades Artair’s monastery home and kidnaps his peers, Artair is forced to steal a foxlike cub from the Jih Forest as ransom. Commanded by the Queen of Serpents to retrieve the cub, Elver makes a deal with Artair to travel with him and save his friends before returning the cub home. But the being inhabiting Artair—an amnesiac spirit named Lucian—has his own mission, for which he intends to recruit Elver. Refined omniscient third-person narration deftly conveys a complexly wrought world shaped by divine manipulation and populated by eerie, inventive creatures, while slow-burning romantic elements simmer in the background. The trio read as white. Ages 13–up. Agent: Juliet Mushens, Mushens Entertainment. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

Tracy (Murray Out of Water) strikes a playful balance between star-crossed romance and self-discovery in this joyful middle grade riff on Romeo & Juliet. Anxious, autistic 13-year-old Jules is determined to face her fear of crowds by attending the San Gennaro festival in New York City’s Little Italy, where her parents own an Italian restaurant. At the celebration’s opening night party, she meets 14-year-old Romea, who manages her ADHD via structured Eagle Scout activities, and whose family owns a rival eatery. The girls instantly connect, choosing to pursue their new friendship and growing mutual attraction despite their families’ enmity. Bonding over their shared neurodivergence, queerness, and love of food, they date in secret as the festival progresses. And as they face uncertainty stemming from recently starting high school, both Ro and Jules see their developing relationship as an opportunity to challenge their limitations, assert themselves with their parents, and pursue their passions. While mouthwatering descriptions of food handily conjure the atmosphere of the festival season, the earnest leads’ sweetly satisfying romance eschews tragic Shakespearean conventions. Ages 8–12. Agent: Maria Vicente, P.S. Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

A family’s forced migration prompts a new way of seeing home in this sensitively rendered tale of change from Perrella and Salerno. High on a hill at night, young narrator Clara sits with Papá, Mamá, brother Pedro, and dog Coco, watching for shooting stars. When the children’s parents explain that the family is leaving the next day, Clara isn’t surprised—relatives and acquaintances have already gone, and “I knew that one day we would, too.” At dawn, the family joins a long queue of people walking with bedrolls and backpacks (“I carry Coco... and I tell her that I will always look after her”). During a journey that involves “a hiding game” and transport by boat, Papá asks, “Do you know that our home is always with us?... it is made from the people we love and the things we love doing.” As Clara becomes aware of the home that is “here right now” (“family, Coco, drawing, and thinking about my best memories”), the child asks others about what they love. Via a restrained palette of blues, golds, and greens, arresting graphite and digital illustrations communicate the passage of time (initially clean-shaven Papá’s face fills in with a beard), while visually emphasizing, through thin, etching-like lines that overlay the book’s scenes, “the invisible things” the travelers “carry in their hearts.” A note concludes. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–7. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

Pastor Batterson (Please, Sorry, Thanks) contends in this shopworn guide that readers of faith can change their lives and the world by thinking long-term. He advises believers to cultivate a “long vision” that looks beyond one’s own life and strives to better the world, and outlines a plan for doing so by auditing one’s regrets and learning from them, considering one’s deepest convictions, and aligning one’s goals with Jesus’s values. Readers should also practice “long obedience” by putting those goals into action in small, everyday ways. Together, long obedience and long vision shape a “long legacy” that trickles down into the lives of future generations, and which God works “behind the scenes” to help enact. Unfortunately, the author hammers home his thesis, reiterating in slightly varying ways that “our actions and reactions have second, third, and fourth generation impact,” but remains vague about practical details, giving this the feel of a well-meaning but flimsy sermon. Christian do-gooders won’t find much they don’t already know. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

Art historian Farrington (African-American Art) rounds up letters, interviews, speeches, and other primary accounts from 20th- and 21st-century Black artists for this valuable compendium. The selections highlight “that, as yet, there exists no utopia wherein Black artists can simply be artists.” The volume begins with Alain Locke’s 1925 essay on a “Black aesthetic,” a style inspired by contemporary Black culture and African traditions that focuses on “ennobling Black subject matter.” It then unpacks how that aesthetic has been cultivated—and challenged—by artists involved in the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement, Afrocentrism, Post-Black Art, and more. The texts range far and wide, from sculptor Nancy Elizabeth Prophet’s diary detailing a life of poverty in 1920s and ’30s Paris to a critique of Kara Walker’s art, which found mainstream popularity via controversial depictions of Black subjects, including girls being sexually abused. The wide-ranging selection makes accessible the thoughts of artists whose work has gone underrecognized, particularly with pieces like Prophet’s handwritten diary, which was transcribed especially for this book. The result is a keen and insightful window into a rich artistic legacy. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

Sports reporter Podolsky (You Are Looking Live!) provides a thorough examination of the broadcast partnership between John Madden and Pat Summerall. The two spent 21 years announcing pro football games together for CBS and Fox, forming what Podolsky calls “the greatest NFL broadcasting team in history.” Madden retired as coach of the Oakland Raiders at 42 in 1978 and turned to TV as his second act. Summerall, who played for multiple NFL teams, fell into broadcasting after an executive from WCBS Radio told him he had a great voice for it. When CBS executives paired them together as lead NFL announcers in 1981, the chemistry was immediate. Madden was the charismatic everyman, someone viewers felt like they could have a beer with, while Summerall provided a counterbalance with his concise, authoritative style. Through extensive interviews with those close to them (Summerall died in 2013 and Madden in 2021) and his own astute analyses, Podolsky effectively illustrates how their complementary styles (“No matter how far Madden would stray telling his stories, Summerall would have the perfect capper to move things back to neutral”) paired with their deep knowledge of the sport set the standard for NFL telecasts. Football fans will appreciate this behind-the-scenes look at one of the sport’s most famous duos. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

Persian Jewish dentist Kamran “Kam” Esfahani, the protagonist of this taut political thriller from McCloskey (The Seventh Floor), is counting down the days until he has enough money to leave Sweden for sunny California. So when Arik Glitzman, head of the Mossad’s Caesarea Division, offers to pay him a fortune to sow chaos in Iran, he can’t say no. Trading the monotony of dentistry for the perils of espionage, he runs a sham dental practice in Tehran as a cover for smuggling weapons and conducting surveillance. Meanwhile, Glitzman hunts a terrorist network targeting Jews in Israel. Complications ensue when Kam enlists double agent Roya Shabani, a widow bent on avenging her Iranian scientist husband who was killed by the Mossad, to help in his mission. As loyalties blur and the mission unravels, Kam lands in prison, and much of the novel is framed as his final confession. Intricately plotted and populated with multidimensional characters whose complicated motives drive them to desperation, the novel deftly balances geopolitical tensions and human stakes. Fans of John le Carré will have a tough time putting this down. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron M. Priest Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink