Top 10

The Ballad of X-Ray and Koko

Nicole J. Georges. Holiday House, Jan. 19 ($24.99, ISBN 978-0-8234-5844-8)

The Lamba Award winner’s latest, a queer coming-of-age story, stars a girl named X-Ray and her trusty pet chicken. Ages 8–12. 25,000-copy announced first printing.

Dance Team Drama (Detective Baby #1)

Meg Cabot and Amelia Allore. HarperAlley, Sept. 1 ($13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-325496-1)

In bestseller Cabot’s “effervescent” series opener, “a quotidian mystery alchemizes into a standout gumshoe caper,” per PW’s starred review. Ages 8­–12.

Exposures: A Story About Life with OCD and the Power of Facing Your Fears

Lily Williams. First Second, Aug. 11 ($24.99, ISBN 978-1-250-24670-7)

This “compassionate and necessary” debut, per PW’s starred review, offers “an unflinching portrait of one tween’s managing OCD.” Ages 8–12.

Film Nerds

Sofia Warren. Putnam, Sept. 29 ($13.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-217-00409-6)

The New Yorker cartoonist’s debut finds friends who are drifting apart come together to make a sci-fi movie, in what PW’s review called a “charming send-up to creativity and belonging.” Ages 8–12. 30,000-copy announced first printing.

Game On (All-American Persian #1)

Sina Grace. Random House Graphic, Oct. 6 ($21.99, ISBN 978-0-593-56623-7)

In a comic based on his upbringing, the GLAAD Media Award–nominated Superman writer features an Iranian American kid whose mom will only let him play video games if he agrees to study Farsi first. Ages 8–12.

Hometown

Shaun Tan. Levine Querido, Sept. 1 ($24.99, ISBN 978-1-64614-698-7)

This elegant picture book–style graphic narrative recalls Tan’s seminal The Arrival with a “luminous and ethereal work about home and identity,” per PW’s starred review. Ages 10–14.

Last One Picked

Audrey Meeker. Feiwel and Friends, Oct. 13 ($22.99, ISBN 978-1-250-38393-8)

An indoor kid who loves to read gets sent to volleyball camp, which would be bad enough, but then she finds out the friend who betrayed her is also in attendance. Ages 9–12.

Mind vs. Machine: The Chess Match That Changed the World

Steve Sheinkin, Maurice Ashley, and Thien Pham. Roaring Brook, Sept. 8 ($22.99, ISBN 978-1-250-33477-0)

This work of graphic nonfiction recounts a 1997 chess match between world champion Garry Kasparov and a computer. Per PW’s review, it “celebrates human creativity and intuition amid an ever advancing technological landscape.” Ages 10–14.

War

Eoin Colfer, Andrew Donkin, and Giovanni Rigano. Sourcebooks, Sept. 15 ($14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-4642-6125-1)

Bestseller Colfer turns from fantasy to realism, in an account of a child orphaned when a city is decimated in an unnamed conflict. Ages 10–14.

The Whole Wide World of Mabel Mulligan

Victoria Jamieson. Dial, Oct. 6 ($13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-525-55393-9)

Newbery Honoree Jamieson’s heroine is a sparky girl named Mabel, who can hear her stuffed animals chatter and also overhears her parents have a serious chat. Ages 7–10. 250,000-copy announced first printing.

Middle Grade Comics Longlist

Abrams Fanfare

Icons of Design by Tonya Bolden and David Wilkerson (Jan. 5, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-4197-5271-1) profiles Black designers across history whose work focuses on both aesthetics and usability, including costume designer Ruth E. Carter, automotive designer Ed Welburn, and fashion designer Ann Lowe. Ages 8–12. 25,000-copy announced first printing.

Aladdin

Brave, Loyal, True by Russell Ginns and Jay Cooper (Jan. 12, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-6659-0202-1). A heroine wombat and her sidekick pangolin battle the villainous reptiles of Anvil in this launch of a joke-filled superhero series. Ages 7–12. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

Spy Grandma by Celina Frenn and Lucas Elliott (Aug. 18, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-6659-5963-6). A grandmother who thought she’d put her secret agent days behind her gets pulled back into service at the same time her two grandkids show up for summer vacation. Ages 8–12. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

Andrews McMeel

Elfie’s Grimoire by Audrey Alwett, Christophe Arleston, and Ludivine Marques-Verissimo, trans. by Rebecca Potters (Oct. 20, $22.99, ISBN 979-8-8816-1208-5). As they travel from village to village in their mobile bookshop, a trio of grieving sisters learn magical skills from the grimoire their late mother bequeathed them. Ages 8–10.

Frankenstein by Federica de Cotis et al. (Oct. 20, $21.99, ISBN 979-8-8816-1270-2) adapts Mary Shelley’s classic with anthropomorphized cats playing the roles of a hubris-filled young scientist and his monstrous creation built from stitched-up parts and roused by electricity. Ages 9–11.

Marty Milagros Dooms the Earth: A Star League Story (Marty Milagros #1) by Veronica V. Jones (Sept. 29, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-5248-8584-7). Clumsy goofball Marty Milagros accidentally downloads the artificial intelligence defense system his mysterious neighbor was designing to defend Earth from space invaders, becoming the most imperfect tween weapon in the universe. Ages 10–12.

The Worst Is Yet to Come (Doom & Gloom #1) by Jane Walker and Darin Henry (Oct. 6, $22.99, ISBN 979-8-8816-0201-7). After a pair of cats who cherish evil plans accidentally kill their crime boss, Ivan Wicked, they get inherited by his too sweet niece Petunia, who foils their schemes. Ages 8–10.

Candlewick

The Moonlit Spiral by Mike Maihack (Oct. 6, $24.99, ISBN 978-1-5362-2448-1). Maihack follows up the Cleopatra in Space series with a treasure-hunt adventure tale, where Rion, Zyla, and a magical fox, denizens of a world called Helix, follow clues left in a journal by Rion’s deceased parents. Ages 8–12. 55,000-copy announced first printing.

Chronicle

Our Starry Starry Night by Jimmy Liao (Oct. 6, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-7972-3808-1). First published in Taiwan, this graphic novel finds two children meeting in the evening to form a gentle communion of lonely souls under starlight. Ages 8–12.

Dark Horse

Avatar: The Last Airbender—Jet—Rebels and Rhinos by Faith Erin Hicks et al. (Sept. 8, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-5133-7). The revenge-driven origin story of rebel guerilla leader Jet unfolds in this standalone from the Airbender universe, which asks whether he’ll pursue the Colonel, who destroyed his village and family, or put his crew’s safety first. Ages 8 and up. 35,000-copy announced first printing.

The Last Human in a Crowded Galaxy by Zack Jordan and Luyi Bennett (Aug. 11, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-5067-4820-7). Shenya the Widow, a spider-alien, adopts a seven-year-old human named Sarya, the last of her kind, and tries to keep her true origins secret from the Network auditor (and Sarya herself) in this comic based on the novel The Last Human. Ages 10–14.

DC Comics

C.O.R.T.: Children of the Round Table by Tom Taylor and Daniele Di Nicuolo (Oct. 6, $12.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-7995-0564-8). Taylor (the Superman series) riffs on the tales of Camelot in this story of contemporary L.A. tweens who get trained on Arthurian legends after they find an argumentative sword stuck in a fallen boulder. Ages 8–12.

Dial

Raise the Bar by Fernanda Frick H (Aug. 25, $24.99, ISBN 978-0-593-40732-5). A teen weight lifter muscles through trials to achieve her ambition to compete professionally in this “exceptional graphic novel debut,” per PW’s starred review, which called it “a gold-medal performance.” Ages 8–12.

Difference Engine

Magical Sweet Gula by Johanes Park and Jessica Leman (Sept. 16, $12.50 trade paper, ISBN 978-981-18-7736-0). Gula Gulali’s magic is sugary: she can turn any item into a treat. She leaves a trail of cakes wherever she goes, which brings unwanted attention from the nongifted Terrans when another Magi joins her school. Ages 8–12.

Eerdmans

The Adventures of Odysseus: A Graphic Novel of The Odyssey by Nicolás Schuff and Mariana Ruiz Johnson, trans. by Lawrence Schimel (Oct. 27, $20.99, ISBN 978-0-8028-5663-0). Following the Trojan War, Odysseus sets a course for home, but the journey takes a decade, as he mixes it up with sirens, nymphs, and a cyclops before he hits Ithaca’s shores. Ages 9–14.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Fast Break by Shawn Pryor and Del Hahn (Oct. 6, $22.99, ISBN 978-0-374-38955-0). Star basketball player Mkayla Thomas gets blocked by the coach at her new school, so she brings her superior skills to the Firebirds community team, where she’ll have to learn to share the ball to win. Ages 8–12.

First Second

The Complete Cottons by Jim Pascoe and Heidi Arnhold (Nov. 17, $39.99, ISBN 978-1-250-42422-8). A bunny named Bridgebelle who works at the carrot factory runs a side hustle crafting magical objects that bring the unwanted attention of greedy foxes. Ages 10–14.

Don’t Be Scared by Saadia Faruqi and Shadia Amin (Sept. 8, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-250-87933-2). Scary movie fan Riz tries to convince his father that hauntings are for real, but finds himself in real trouble when he and his buddies trawl for ghosts in a spooky house. Ages 8–12.

Monkey King: Uproar in Heaven by Alina Chau (Sept. 8, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-250-32786-4) adapts the Chinese myth about a royal creature born from an egg on a mountaintop who challenges the gods with his shape-shifting misadventures and ability to surf the clouds. Ages 8–12.

Small Magics by Emily Tetri (Sept. 22, $22.99, ISBN 978-1-250-85565-7). Geisel honoree Tetri returns with the story of a young girl’s summer with her aunts on a magical island where pups speak and the elements respond to gentle entreaties. Ages 8–12.

Graphic Universe

The Last Boy Above Ground by Rodrigo Reyes Rico (Sept. 1, $17.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-7656-7137-5). Elias meets Ana, the only other human to venture to the surface of Mexico City after devastating pollution sent the rest of the world underground. Together they hope to clean up the future—if they can escape the Rat King. Ages 9–14.

Graphix

Baby-Sitters on Board! (The Baby-Sitters Club Super Special #1) by Ann M. Martin, Raina Telgemeier, and Gale Galligan
(Sept. 15, $27.99 ISBN 978-1-5461-7437-0). The tween babysitting crew take a cruise to the Bahamas and ride roller coasters, all while on the clock with childcare duties, in this spin-off. Ages 8–12.

Cat Loaf Adventures by kat.ariyn (Aug. 4, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-225-01962-4) adapts the Webtoon comic featuring Cat Loaf and their friends Tabby and Rye as they make friends with chocolate mousses and stay away from meanie Lord Cinnabuns. Ages 8–12.

Front Desk by Kelly Yang and Fumio Obata (Oct. 20, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-338-85644-6). In this adaptation of the bestselling middle grade novel, a teen works reception at the Calivista hotel, where her immigrant parents work as cleaners and hide other immigrants seeking shelter. Ages 8–12.

Splinter’s Dojo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Illustrated Novel #1) by Dan and Jason (Sept. 1, $12.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-
1-5461-9561-0). The turtles go to middle school in the New York City sewer system, with nemeses Bepop and Rocksteady joining them in the classroom, in a hybrid prose and comics series launch. Ages 8–12.

HarperAlley

Earth to Chris Cleevy by Christof Bogacs, Hannah Krieger, and Sammy Savos (Aug. 25, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-308613-5). An 11-year-old boy deals with OCD and his mother’s new beau as he starts to realize that extraterrestrials have landed in his town. Ages 8–12.

Framed by Karina Evans and Andrea Ball (Sept. 22, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-328251-3). When Toby throws a fit in art class and trashes her painting, her teacher thinks she sabotaged the rest of the class projects, too—and she must rally support to show she’s not the art destroyer of junior high. Ages 8–12.

Interstellar Pen Pals (Moonie and Junie #1) by Katie Kordesh (Oct. 20, $15.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-06-342761-7). A message seeking friendship travels from lonely Moonie’s lunar abode all the way to Junie over on Mars, and they begin a correspondence across the stars. Ages 8–12.

Helvetiq

Destination Antarctica: The Frozen Continent Bursting with Life by Guillaume de Rémacle and Adrienne Barman (Sept. 8,
$22.95, ISBN 978-3-03964-146-8). This geographic explainer takes young readers on a scientific comics trip through the frozen continent, encountering penguins, seals, whales, and other wildlife in a fragile eco- system under threat. Ages 8–12.

Hippo Park

Dog Days: The Crush and Other Stories by Claudia Boldt (Aug. 25, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-6626-4105-3) kicks off a series featuring canine tween BFFs Mia and Willow with the disruption of their easy routines by a cutie skater-cat. Ages 8–12. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

Kar-Ben

The Cloak from Baghdad by Carol Isaacs (Sept. 1, $17.99, ISBN 979-8-7656-7023-1). The story of the Jewish people of Iraq is told via a fantasy wherein a child in 1970s London is transported by a mystical cloak to 1930s Baghdad to witness the upending of her ancestor’s idyllic childhood when her family is targeted for their religion. Ages 8–12.

Kids Can

Namaste, Santa by Rahul Chaturvedi and Sunita Balsara (Oct. 6, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5253-1153-6). When Siddhu immigrates to Canada, he moves into a building full of other families from different home countries, and together the kids decide to bring in a Christmas tree to get this Santa they keep hearing about to finally make a stop there. Ages 9–12.

Kugali Ink

Àkànní by Jessica Tagbajumi and Jason Lamy (Oct. 6, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-368-11066-2). A rising student learning to protect the solar system at the Onija Institute pushes back against a hostile home-planet government and finds herself aligned with rebels after an attack. Ages 8–12. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

Runeless by Bill Masuku and Daniel Quartey (Oct. 6, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-368-11067-9). In the gilded city of Dura, runes determine the future of residents from birth—so what happens to the poor runeless, like Fungai and Ngoni, when a vagabond offers them an escape? Ages 8–12. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

LB Ink

Brainbow by Maya Henderson (Sept. 22, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-316-57919-3). Sixth grader Rosie has synesthesia, and she assumes that everyone else does, too. But she discovers otherwise when rumors about her start to fly after her math tournament teammates don’t trust her number sense, which she expresses via colors. Ages 8–12.

The Library of Memories by Barbara Perez Marquez and Lissy Marlin (Aug. 25, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-316-46443-7). Copenhagen lives without memories or a sense of time as the solo human in a library, her only companions the mechanical critters who tend its stacks, until she starts to slowly read about the painful truths of her past. Ages 8–12.

Middle School Monsters by Robin Easter (Aug. 4, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-316-58025-0). A werewolf named Jamie keeps her fur and temper under wraps at her new middle school, until she realizes she has troubles in common with her classmate Vera, whom everyone accuses of being a vampire. Ages 8–12.

Oni

Choose Your Own Adventure: Space and Beyond by Jeremy Lambert and Dani Bolinho (Aug. 4, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-89488-113-3). The reader gets to decide in this interstellar adventure featuring black holes, alien encounters, and 44 possible endings. Ages 7–10.

Haunted Comic Club by Josh Tierney and Caitlin Soliman (Oct. 6, $16.99 trade paper, ISBN 979-8-89488-333-5). Eisner nominee Tierney scripts a mash-up of ghost stories and comics boosterism in this tale of aspiring cartoonist tweens who collaborate on a comic about a local urban legend. Ages 7–10.

Papercutz

Ever Trip by Alan C. Medina and Max Bare (Oct. 6, $14.99, ISBN 978-1-5458-3399-5). Brothers search out the seven pieces of a star that grants wishes on this road-trip adventure that puts them in the path of a martial artist robot monk and a rollerblading bear. Ages 10–14.

Jane American by Jason Douglas and Annie Wright (Sept. 1, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5458-3621-7). A young woman strives to support her family and regain her pride in America when the end of WWII brings both grief and the loss of her wartime employment. Ages 10–14.

Solar Sisters by Amit Tishler, Elliot Sperl, and Virginia Salucci (Oct. 13, $17.99, ISBN 978-1-5458-2778-9). Child stars and influencers in the solar system swirl into interstellar drama in this soap opera about a lunar roller rink on the brink of disaster and the sisters who try to save the day. Ages 7–12.

Three Bee Honey by Desi and Jon St. Amant (Oct. 20, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-5458-3347-6). Overworked and under pressure, music-
loving bee Claire sets aside her passions to grind for her failing hive before winter sets in, while training her little sisters in the ways of the swarm. Ages 7–12.

Putnam

A Beginner’s Guide to Leveling Up by Elizabeth Agyemang (Sept. 8, $14.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-52475-6). When Lexie’s grandfather dies and leaves behind notes on the video game he was designing, she hops over middle school drama and right into a portal on a pixelated quest. Ages 8–12. 30,000-copy announced first printing.

Rocky Pond

Say Their Names by Pan Cooke and Nsé Ufot (Jan. 12, $13.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-85780-9). Through the fictional tale of a student becoming an activist, the stories of the civil rights and Black Lives Matter movements, their youthful leaders, and the victims of police violence are portrayed in this graphic narrative. Ages 10–14. 30,000-copy announced first printing.

SelfMadeHero

Romo the WolfBoy by Ilya (Sept. 1, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-914224-53-9). Blimey O’Riley’s circus rolls through Victorian England as newbie sideshow attraction Romo, who performs as the wolf boy, and his stagehand enemy turned ally Francis investigate a case of ghostly giggles. Ages 8 and up.

Ten Speed Young Readers

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne, Kevan Chandler, and Joe Sutphin (Oct. 13, $19.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-0-593-83755-9). Sutphin, the Eisner-winning artist who adapted Watership Down, draws the adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends Piglet and Eeyore in the Hundred Acre Wood. Ages 8–12. 30,000-copy announced first printing.

Top Shelf

Makes His Mark (Viridian #1) by Roland Boles (Jan. 12, $9.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-60309-603-4). Viridian “Vee” James’s
cartoons adorn his homework, but he wants to take the next step and make comics a pro gig. When he makes a bid to draw for the school newspaper, however, he finds the competition a challenge. Ages 9–12.

Usborne

The Wizard of Oz by Russell Punter and Simona Bursi (Nov. 3, $10.99 trade paper, ISBN 978-1-83605-490-0) adapts Frank L.
Baum’s classic tale of Dorothy’s misadventures on the yellow brick road with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion. Ages 8–11.

Waterbrook

On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness (The Wingfeather Saga #1) by Andrew Peterson and Alessia Trunfio (Sept. 8, $21.99, ISBN 978-0-593-58112-4) gives the comics treatment to the first entry in the bestselling series, wherein three siblings born of a lineage both noble and piratical set off on a quest from their cliff home above an ominous sea. Ages 8–12.

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