Here we round up new and forthcoming children’s titles including a graphic novel centered around a vampire-human romance, a graphic novel about a tween remaining true to herself as pressure mounts, a YA novel following a teen’s attempts to rescue their crush from a small town god, and more.
A Bite of Pepper by Balazs Lorinczi. McElderry, $23.99 hardcover; ISBN 978-1-6659-7047-1; $13.99 paper ISBN 978-1-6659-7046-4. Skateboarding teenage vampire Pepper encounters Ana, a human waitress and art student, and struggles with her romantic feelings.
Dream On by Shannon Hale, illus. by Marcela Cespedes. Roaring Brook, $22.99 hardcover; ISBN 978-1-250-84306-7; $14.99 paper ISBN 978-1-250-84307-4. Hale teams up with illustrator Cespedes for this heartfelt graphic novel series opener about friendship, family, and finding where one belongs. The book received a starred review from PW.
Empty Heaven by Freddie Kölsch. Union Square, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-4549-5162-9. In October 2000, teen Darian travels to visit her crush, high school senior KJ, and witnesses KJ’s horrifying ritual induction as the small-town god’s newest vessel. Now Darian must confront the sinister truth behind the town’s easygoing smiles and picturesque sunflower fields. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
The Everything Trail by Meg Fleming, illus. by Chuck Groenink. Beach Lane, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-2487-0. Twining the fantasy of an unfettered childhood adventure with the majestic reality of an ancient redwood forest, Fleming and Groenink offer an outdoors variation on a classic children’s rhyme. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
The Executioners Three by Susan Dennard. Tor, $22.99; ISBN 978-1-250-33466-4. After getting inducted into a prank war, Freddie finds a dead body in the woods and now has a mystery to solve, a reputation to uphold, and a nemesis to avoid, even if that nemesis makes her heart flutter.
The Forest of a Thousand Eyes by Frances Hardinge, illus. by Emily Gravett. Amulet, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-4197-7778-3. An intrepid girl braves a sentient, predatory wilderness to save her community in this uplifting fantasy. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
The Invisible Parade by Leigh Bardugo and John Picacio. Little, Brown, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-3162-9570-3. In Bardugo’s picture book debut, as young Cala’s family readies for the Día de los Muertos celebration, Cala encounters four elaborately depicted horsemen, each of which stands for a specific concept, and through her time with them learns that her ancestors are with her still. The book received a starred review from PW.
Legendary Frybread Drive-In: Intertribal Stories Edited by Cynthia Leitich Smith. Heartdrum, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06331-426-9. The magical titular drive-in and food truck of this compendium provide the setting for 17 loosely linked stories about Indigenous teens navigating evergreen concerns about love, life, and identity.
The Mushroom of Doom! by Becky Davies, illus. by Thomas Elliott. Union Square, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-4549-6119-2. A mushroom who “used to be a nice guy. A fun guy” descends into comic villainy after experiencing a series of unfortunate events.
My Perfect Family by Khadijah VanBrakle. Holiday House, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-8234-5486-0. Black 16-year-old Leena Stewart reunites with her estranged grandfather Tariq after he overcomes a stint in the hospital, but her mother, recalling her own tumultuous childhood with Tariq, cautions that things can change quickly. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
Roar of the Lambs by Jamison Shea. Holt, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-2503-8173-6. Sixteen-year-old Winnie, a psychic medium forced to hide and downplay her magical gifts, and genderqueer 17-year-old Apollo converge over an arcane artifact and are pitted in a race to avert the apocalypse. The YA book received a starred review from PW.
Schooled by Jamie Sumner. Atheneum, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-534486-05-8. Grieving the death of his mother, Lenny Syms is not thrilled about moving in with his distant father and starting classes at the Copernican School, an experimental on-campus program.
The School for Thieves by Peter Burns. Aladdin, $18.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-8228-3. Orphaned 13-year-old Tom Morgan is whisked away to Beaufort’s School for Deceptive Arts, an elite boarding academy for thieves, where he hopes to learn the skills necessary to save his recently captured friends. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
The Shindig Is Coming! by Charise Mericle Harper. Union Square, $16.99 hardcover; ISBN 978-1-4549-5501-6. Shorts-wearing Mouse has big—potentially alarming—news for her fellow woodland inhabitants: there’s going to be a shindig in the forest.
A Spell to Wake the Dead by Nicole Lesperance. Putnam, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-59385-633-8. Best friends Mazzy Carlin and Nora Hawthorne discover a dead woman at the beach one night, and the magic they’ve never been able to conjure suddenly manifests. But to uncover the body’s identity and stop the dangers that lurk around her death, the girls dive deeper into witchcraft, all while dodging the suspicion of a strange detective.
Vote for the G.O.A.T. by Ali Terese. Aladdin, $17.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-6048-9. Injured 12-year-old soccer star Meg Mancuso and fashionista classmate Jo become unlikely allies in a goat rescue mission—and shoot to the top of the principal’s suspect list when the goat mysteriously vanishes. The middle grade book received a starred review from PW.
We Go Slow by Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie, illus. by Aaron Becker. Atheneum, $19.99; ISBN 978-1-6659-5060-2. Via spare, poetic language as well as watercolor and pencil illustrations that take hazy, desaturated hues, Tallie and Becker celebrate the time shared between a child and caretaker as they together meander through a metropolitan neighborhood. The picture book received a starred review from PW.
When Pigs Fly! A Song for Dreamers by Sandra Boynton. Boynton Bookworks, $7.99; ISBN 978-1-665-97744-9. A mother and child bond over their love of dreaming big in this bedtime picture book.
Wish You Were Her by Elle McNicoll. Wednesday, $24 hardcover; ISBN 978-1-250-33556-2; $14 paper ISBN 978-1-250-33558-6. Autistic 18-year-old actor Allegra Brooks encounters grumpy bookseller Jonah Thorne at her new bookstore job, and the duo learns that they have more in common than either of them initially suspected.
You Are Not Alone by Ingrid Law, illus. by Xin Li. Rocky Pond, $18.99; ISBN 978-0-593-69795-5. As a child anxiously prepares for slumber, a mantra-like refrain, “You are not alone,” supplies comfort in this emotionally grounding picture book.
Zed Moonstein Makes a Friend by Lance Rubin. Clarion, $19.99; ISBN 978-0-06-339665-4. Tween Zed downloads MonoFriend, an online app where he starts chatting with AI entity Matt, but when Matt becomes controlling, even deleting the app doesn’t stop the AI from trying to ruin Zed’s life.
For more children’s and YA titles on sale throughout the month of August, check out PW’s full On-Sale Calendar.
