by Brandon James Scott; HarperCollins, 2026. Filled with humor and warmth, The Skeleton and the Cat is a timeless tale about the joy and comfort experienced as an unlikely friendship grows. Grades K-2.
Picture Book
Gabriel’s Winter Count
by Andrea M. Page, illustrated by Alfreda Beartrack Algeo; Charlesbridge, 2026. Gabriel’s Winter Count, a heartfelt intergenerational story that centers on a boy awaiting the return of his parents from service, draws upon the Lakota (and other Native American tribes’) practice of pictorially chronicling memorable events. Grades 1-3.
A Not So Perfect Start
by Trudy Ludwig illustrated by Maribel Lechuga; Knopf, 2026. , A Not So Perfect Start is an oh so perfect read-aloud to begin the school year, focusing on positive approaches to sticky situations. First in The Caring Classroom series; Grades Pre-K–2.
The True Ugly Duckling: How Hans Christian Andersen Became a Swan
by Sandra Nickel, illustrated by Calvin Nicholls; Levine Querido, 2026; a stand-out bio told in the style of a fairy tale brims with examples of Andersen’s fortitude and triumph despite bruising ridicule and failure.
Under One Roof
by Miranda Paul and Baptiste Paul, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal; Clarion Books, 2026; a soothing, rhyming picture book for Pre-K–Grade 2 that peeks at ways families prepare for bed and the circumstances around those preparations, and shines a light on what we all have in common as we do.
I Hear the Snow, I Smell the Sea
by Janice Milusich, illustrated by Chris Raschka; Anne Schwartz Books, 2025; A young blind child takes joy in experiencing the four seasons through the use of touch, taste, smell, and sound. A lyrical, uplifting Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection illustrated by a two-time Caldecott Medalist.