Children's Book Roundup: The Best New Picture Books and Novels
This week's children and teens roundup showcases an exciting array of new picture books and novels, featuring musical inspiration from Grammy-winning artist Corinne Bailey Rae, magical academy dangers, and the delightful adventures of an otter pup. From spellbinding geometric art to queer gothic fantasy, there's something for every young reader.
Picture Books for Younger Readers
The Bear and the Seed by Poonam Mistry (Templar, £12.99) presents an inspiring tale where Bear's glorious forest disappears, but he finds hope in a tiny seed that requires help from other animals to tend. This picture book is filled with spellbinding geometric art that captivates both children and adults.
Little Passenger by Deirdre Sullivan and Jessica Love (Walker, £12.99) offers a poetic, beautiful picture book featuring a mother talking to her growing baby throughout pregnancy. Love's lustrous ink and watercolour illustrations beautifully marry the delicate tendrils of developing plants with the intricate stitches of a sampler.
Put Your Records On by Corinne Bailey Rae and Gillian Eilidh O'Mara (Fox&Ink, £8.99) comes from a Grammy-winning musician and explores intergenerational bonds, shared emotions, and the power of music. The book boasts light-filled, joyous illustrations that perfectly complement its heartwarming message.
Graphic Novels and Comics
Alan, King of the Universe by Tom McLaughlin (Hodder, £12.99) features five splendidly silly, surreal graphic novel adventures starring Alan, an orange cat with opposable thumbs and dreams of world domination, and his canine sidekick Fido. This should appeal to Dog Man fans aged 6 and above.
Megalomaniacs by Jamie Smart (David Fickling, £9.99) introduces alien invaders hampered in their attempts to conquer Bobbletown by their minute size and unceasing infighting. This irresistible 7+ comics romp is crammed with bum jokes, eyewatering colour, and an array of tiny villains, from a Jekyll and Hyde carrot to a cyborg kitten bounty hunter.
Poetry and Early Chapter Books
Poetry Pizza by Simon Mole, illustrated by Tom McLaughlin (Otter-Barry, £8.99) offers a lively, funny, lyrical poetry collection featuring subjects to entice a variety of 7+ readers. From baths full of lemonade to invented acronyms, a spell for infinite football skills to Yuri Gagarin's last wee before blasting off into space, this collection has something for everyone.
The Adventures of Portly the Otter by MG Leonard, illustrated by Polly Dunbar (Farshore, £14.99) elegantly balances delight and peril in stories of a lovable otter pup featuring cameos from Toad, Ratty, Badger, and Mole, with some unsettling appearances from the Weasels. Dunbar's adorable illustrations complement this perfect introduction to Wind in the Willows for 8+ readers or younger bedtime listeners.
Middle Grade Adventures
Escape from the Child Snatchers by Sufiya Ahmed (Andersen, £7.99) follows Humza and his best friend Ranj as they leave India on a dangerous journey to find Humza's big brother Dani in England, only to fall almost immediately into the clutches of the child-snatching Basil Brookes. This fast-paced, atmospheric 9+ historical adventure asks whether they can escape him, find Dani, and free Brookes's other victims.
Feather Vane by Beth O'Brien (HarperCollins, £7.99) sends trainee sorcerers Morfran and Creirwy with their mother Ceridwen to banish nuisance magical creatures from the village of Greeth-Under-Edge. When Ceridwen is imprisoned for using a forbidden enchantment, the twins must contend with sylphs, salamanders, gnomes, and river hags while learning where the deepest magic really lies in this absorbing 9+ fantasy with a flavour of Diana Wynne Jones.
The Overthinkers' Club: Happy List by Nat Luurtsema, illustrated by Cécile Dormeau (Usborne, £7.99) features champion worrier Birdie beginning summer term with a LOT to overthink—her BFF making other friends, an imminent house move, and the fact that she owns no bras. This hilarious new illustrated diary series will be catnip for 9+ Lottie Brooks fans.
Young Adult Thrillers and Fantasies
Anya and the Light above the Ocean by Amelia Giudici (Andersen, £7.99) follows Anya as she sets out in a small boat to find her scientist mother who didn't come home one stormy night. After encountering a mysterious square of light at sea and blacking out, Anya wakes to find her mother still missing and herself sent away to strangers where she must use all her courage and tenacity to figure out the unthinkable happenings around her in this gripping, original, and thought-provoking 10+ sci-fi thriller.
The Danger of Small Things by Caryl Lewis (S&S, £16.99) presents a world where bees have died out, causing worldwide famine and leading to a society without art or creativity where girls are sent away to work as pollinators before being married off at 16. With the help of some forbidden paints and pollination brushes, 14-year-old Jess attempts to incite a rebellion in this compelling YA dystopia that marries an urgent environmental message with a stirring feminist call to arms.
Her Hidden Fire by Clíodhna O'Sullivan (Penguin, £9.99) is set in segregated Domhain where power is concentrated in the elite Channellers, drawn from the life-force of lower-status people called "Fodder." Éadha, a servant, loves Ionáin, the heir of a ruling family who will lose their status if Ionáin does not possess the Channeller gift. When Éadha discovers she has the gift and Ionáin does not, she makes an audacious decision to accompany him to the Channeller training academy, shielding him by a trick. This riveting, romantic, and thought-provoking chunky YA fantasy interrogates patriarchy, power-hoarding, and the myths by which injustice sustains itself.
Bad Queer by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan, illustrated by Chi Nwosu (Faber, £9.99) follows Surya, who knows they're non-binary and is supported by their family, but finds telling Blessing—the handsome, fascinating boy they're crushing on at drama club—harder to face. This poignant, thoughtful YA verse novel about navigating identity and the joys and pains of first love is ideal for Dean Atta fans.
These Shattered Spires by Cassidy Ellis Salter (Bloomsbury, £16.99) is set in a dying, decaying world where Fourspires Castle houses arcanists of four rival disciplines—bone, blood, botany, and stone—whose rites maintain the precarious status quo. When the king is assassinated, the arcanists and their human familiars must fight for survival in the ritual of the Slaughter. Bone witch Taro, botanical familiar Nixie, cursed blood familiar Elliot, and Alix, banished from the Stone Arcania, become allies despite their spiteful, mistrustful history, aiming not just to survive but to lift the curse that binds their world in its rotting chains. This ambitious, gruesome, and appallingly fascinating queer gothic fantasy kicks off a trilogy that's sure to attract legions of strong-stomached YA readers.
